The Bulletin des Lois (Bulletin of the laws) was a publication created during the French Revolution as an "official anthology of the laws, orders and regulations that govern" the people. The first issue of the Bulletin appeared in May 1794. It was created as an organ by which to get news and legal decisions to various scattered parts of the administration, notably to those in the provinces. It was continued under the reign of Napoleon I (1804-1815). The bulletin primarily deals with the minutiae of French civil life and give considerable insights into French history and sociology.

Bulletin No. 351 contains the regulations 6514 to 6526. Regulation No. 6518 under the title "Decret imperial concernant les Juifs etrangers qui se sont etablis a Livourne, et portant qu'a l'avenir nul etranger, Juif ou autre, ne pourra devenir Sujet francais que d'apres les regles etablies par le Lois generales de l'Empire)" addresses a naturalization request of the Jews of Livorno (Italy, Tuscany, which was under French rule then). It was issued by the Emperor Napoleon at the Palais des Tuileries, February 9,1811, signed by the State Minister H.B. Duc de Bassano.

The regulation stipulates that all the Jews who already live in Livorno and are part of the Jewish community at this point in time are granted full French citizen rights. However, Jews and other foreigners who settle after this date are not automatically French citizens, the citizenship has to be gained according to the rules of the Empire.

Napoleon is regarded as one of the chief forerunners of Jewish emancipation. By introducing the equality of the French Revolution, granting citizenships to Jews, and destroying the old feudal system, he effected more for Jewish emancipation than had been accomplished during the preceding centuries.