“Ordinance against usury of Jews” issued by the mayor and City Council of Frankfurt [Present-day Germany; Free Imperial City of Frankfurt]: “Mayor and Council [of Frankfurt] renew the publicly issued ordinances of June 9, 1584, June 6, 1616, and 1646 and expand on them […] to prevent against ‘usury and reckless borrowing, especially, those of the mercenary Jews, […] 2) As far as pledges are concerned that are worth little, such as cattle, which is often given as security for loans to Jews as well, they are not to be valid unless they are done in front of the [appropriate] mayor/magistrate (‘Schultheiß’) and appropriate taxation […] 5) […] this is to be done to deprive the mercenary Jews from having any opportunity to manipulate/change (‘Verstellung’) a loan into a purchase or into any other kind of contract by which poor people, who end up with merchandize instead of money, are clearly defrauded […]’ which is why all trade/barter/lending is to be done with the knowledge and involvement of the [local] mayor/magistrate (‘Schultheiß’) […]” [Researcher’s note: The above legal text has been condensed to fit the allocated and text be found in its entirely in the cited source.]
Sammlung der Verordnungen der Reichsstadt Frankfurt von Joh. Conr. Beyerbach. Erster Theil. (Collection of ordinance of the Imperial City of Frankfurt by Joh. Conr. Beyerbach. First part.); (Frankfurt am Main; 1798); Researched and Translated by Ziba Shadjaani 1/18/2020