Dear List,

I was wondering, the JRI-PL site states:

Be aware that Eastern European Jews adopted permanent surnames
during the first 30 years of the 19th century, and there were laws
regulating who could or must choose a similar name.

What were those laws? Who established them? Where could I find
information on them?

Thanks to anyone able to shed some light on this....

Leslie Pollak
Santiago, Chile
lpollak@...

Interests:
HOBSBAWN, BERKWOOD in London, or OBSTBAUM, BERGHOLTZ in Warsaw
GEORGE, DAVIES in Llanyre, Wales
POLLAK, STEIN in Budapest and Tata-Tovaros, Hungary
LANG; OCHS in Strecno, Slovakia

MODERATOR NOTE: Go to : http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/#Names
Under Names: click on: Names of the Jews (Preliminary FAQ).
Scroll down to the Index: you will find a list of subjects,
including: "Adoption of family names" .