Jewish disabilities were legal restrictions, limitations and obligations placed on European Jews in the Middle Ages.
Disabilities also included special taxes levied on Jews, exclusion from public life, restraints on the performance of religious ceremonies, and linguistic censorship.
The newly united German Empire abolished Jewish disabilities in Germany in 1871.
They were forbidden to hold public office, open a retail shop, or establish a synagogue.
When the colony was seized by the British in 1664 Jewish rights remained unchanged, but by 1671 Asser Levy was the first Jew to serve on a jury in North America.