Court Puts New Interpretation on Article 15 of Palestine Mandate(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
A Jew living in Palestine cannot be compelled by the municipality of a Jewish town to observe the Sabbath if he does not choose to, the District Court of Jaffa ruled in an interesting case, putting a new interpretation on Article 15 of the Palestine Mandate, concerning freedom of conscience.
The court ruled on an appeal of the Jewish storekeeper, Altschuler of Tel Aviv, who was fined #163;2 by a Tel Aviv magistrate for violating the municipal ordinance concerning the observance of the Sabbath.
The District Court agreed to the argument of Mr. Altschuler’s attorney, that the Tel Aviv municipality ordinance is in contradiction to Article 15 of the Mandate, since the ordinance establishes a sort of discrimination by prohibiting trading on the Sabbath to Jews only.
Article 15 of the Mandate provides: “The Mandatory shall see that complete freedom of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of worship, subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals, are ensured to all. No discrimination of any kind shall be made between the inhabitants of Palestine on the ground of race, religion or language. No person shall be excluded from Palestine on the sole ground of his religious belief.”
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.
