When speaking of German ethnicity in the German Empire, there are two terms, an Imperial German (Reichsdeutscher) and an ethnic German (Volksdeutsche). An Imperial German is any citizen of the German Empire, regardless of their ethnic origin, and an ethnic German is a citizen of the German Empire of German ancestry. Legally, there is no difference or preference, due to a number of civil rights laws in the 1950s and 1960s in Germany, given to ethnicity in the German Empire or its territories. Citizens of the empire enjoy the same rights and privileges regardless of ethnic origin.