A Jewish butcher who was sued here by his landlord for not paying the rent of his shop asked for a reduction of rent on the ground that the government’s prohibition of shechita (kosher slaughtering) had ruined his trade.
The courts rejected his claim, handing down the following ruling:
“The question of rental must be considered as a practical question, and if conditions arise which make it impossible to use the place for the purpose for which it was rented, the occupier is entitled to a reduction of the rent, or even be released from having to pay any at all. Such conditions do not, however, apply in this case.
“According to paragraph 1 of the law of April, 1933, in force since May, 1933, warm-blooded animals must be stunned before they are slaughtered. The Jewish method of slaughtering without stunning is thus prohibited throughout the whole of the Reich, and those who act in a manner conflicting with this law are liable to punishment.
“The prohibition thus applies against a definite section of people in the whole of Germany, those who slaughter according to the Jewish law.
“In the case before us, the defendant did not slaughter on the premises he occupies, and the defendant can still pursue his work of selling Jewish slaughtered meat, as he did previously, by importing it from abroad. The point that the price of the meat would be prohibitive after paying freight and tariffs is unimportant. The loss of turnover by the defendant is not due to any fault of the premises, since the shop he occupies can still be utilized in the same way as before the prohibition of shechita for the sale of ritually slaughtered meat.
“The prohibition of shechita, therefore, does not release the defendant from paying his rent or any part of his rent.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
