Tim Congregation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews from which the
present Anglo-Jewish Community derives was formed in London in 1656, and one of its first tasks was the drawing up of a code of laws (Ascamoth) under which the Congregation, which was for the greater part of its first century in effect the Anglo-Jewish Community, was governed. This code of laws, which has during the past three centuries ondergone several -revisions, is still the constitution of the Congregation. Mr. Neville Laski, Q.C., the Vice-President of the Elders of the Congregation, has set himself the interesting task of analysing this code and calling attention to the developments in every successive revision, developments which, taken through their entire course, show the passage of the governing body of the Com- munity from an oligarchy of the Venetian type to a democratic community in which all members, rich and poor, distinguished and undistinguished, male and female (except in a few ritual matters) have equal rights and duties. Mr. Laski 'S book is invaluable to all students of Anglo-Jewish history. It is even more so to those who are interested in Jewish communal administra- tion throughout the 'centuries and through- out the world of Jewry.
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