GHETTO, formerly the street or quarter of a city in which the Jews were compelled to live. The term is now used loosely of any locality where they congregate.
The mediaeval Jewry (Juiverie, Juderia, etc.) was the inev itable social expression of Jewish solidarity and Gentile aversion, and did not necessarily have any legal implication. The third Lateran Council (1179), which prohibited true believers even from lodging amongst the infidels, laid the foundations of a stricter control, which was sporadically enforced. It was not, however, reduced to a system until the counter-Reformation, when the bull cum nimis absurdum of Paul IV. (15 5 5) enjoined for the first time the consistent enforcement of the mediaeval principles of segrega tion, the Ghetto of Rome being established in the following year. The Papal example ultimately prevailed in almost every city of Italy; and the name Ghetto, originally found in Venice, was gen erally applied to the new quarter thus created. In Germany, where a similar system obtained, the names Judengasse, etc., were used instead. In the Papal territories in France the term Carriere (des Jui f s) was employed. In the rest of Europe the formal insti tution never generally prevailed. Among the most important ex amples of it in the north were Frankfort and Prague ; in the south, Avignon, Rome and Venice, where the old buildings may still be seen.
Within their Ghettos the Jews enjoyed a considerable degree of autonomy under their own authorities, who were responsible for the collection,of the oppressive communal taxation. The Jewish quarter thus formed to some extent an independent corporation, with its own officials; purveyors, guilds, amusements, and courts. Economic activity was however restricted by law to money-lend ing and a few more of the meanest occupations. The houses tended to be of unusual height, being compelled to extend verti cally since there was no room for them to do so laterally. In order to prevent exploitation by Gentile landlords (the Jew was f or bidden to hold real estate), security of tenure was guarded by an extension of the old Jewish principle of Hazakah, or prescriptive right. In Italy this ultimately acquired full legal status as the jus gazaga. The Ghettos were enclosed with walls and gates, which were kept locked at night and on certain church festivals; e.g., from Thursday to Saturday in Holy Week. Outside, and some times inside as well, a badge or hat of distinctive colour had to be worn. The French Revolution temporarily swept away the infa mous system, though it was widely restored in the reaction that followed. It was abolished however for good by the liberal move ments of the 19th century, the last vestige disappearing with the capture of Rome in 187o.
See D. Philipson, Old European Jewries (1894) ; Israel Abrahams.
Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (1896) ; S. Kahn, article "Ghetto" in the Jewish Encyclopedia.