In 1855, the new ruler of Tunis Muhammad II ibn al-Husayn, abolished many of the petty restrictions which had previously encroached on Jewish life.[2] He also engaged Nassim Shamama as Receiver-General of Finances.[3] At the time, relations between Tunisia and the European powers were governed by the capitulations, which granted extraterritoriality to European subjects, exempting them from Tunisian courts.[4] The capitulations allowed the European powers to extend their protection and the shield of extraterritoriality to those working for them, but the Beys of Tunis sought to limit this narrowly. Thus Hammuda Bey (1782–1814) refused to recognise the registration of a Tuscan Jew from Livorno who had settled in Tunis as a French protégé. He argued that the Livorno Jews who had come to Tunis several generations previously were his subjects and not entitled to protection as if they were French.