The German nobility was a class of persons who, until 1919, enjoyed certain privileges relative to other people under the laws and customs of various parts of what is now Germany. Governments which recognised or conferred nobility included the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806), the German Confederation (1814–1866) and the German Empire (1871–1918). All legal privileges of the nobility were officially abolished in 1919 by the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), and nobility is no longer conferred or recognised by the Federal Republic of Germany, former hereditary titles being allowed only as part of the surname. The system of nobility in the former German Empire was similar to the nobility of Austria, as both territories long belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, although Austria, unlike Germany, legally abolished its nobility and banned use of hereditary titles in any form.