It was the avowed policy of the government to prevent any increase in the number of Jewish residents in the Czech provinces.
In Moravia the number of Familianten was distributed according to congregations, the largest being Nikolsburg with 620; in Bohemia and Austrian Silesia the Familiant was allowed to settle under the same conditions as were other Jews.
An applicant for a permit was required to give surety for the payment of three years' taxes, to prove that he possessed at least 300 florins, to show that he had received a school education, to pass an examination in Jewish religion according to Herz Homberg's text-book, "Bene Zion," and to give evidence that he was at least twenty-four years of age.
The law of Francis I (Aug. 3, 1797) permitted Jews who had served as volunteers in the army or who lived exclusively by agriculture or by technical skill to marry without regard to the number of established families.
This law was abolished by the constitution of March 4, 1849, which made all civil and political rights independent of religious belief.
It was, however, revived in a different form by a law of March 19, 1853, which declared that section 124 of the civil code, demanding a court license (kreisamtliche Bewilligung) for a Jewish marriage, had not been abrogated by the constitution.