Ancient Legal Cultures in the Mediterranean

Question 1

“Jewish law” is an English epithet for…

Answer 1

halakha

Question 2

foundational text Jewish law

Answer 2

• Torah
• Talmud

Question 3

Jewish Law regulates…

Answer 3

• daily (private & public) life
  –> ritual, property, family, commercial & penal law and law of obligations
• public domain
  –> encompasses judiciary, taxation law, communal regulations and constitutional law
• some segments of the halakha only valid in Israel
  BUT Jewish law is personal, not territorial

Question 4

the seven Noahide laws

Answer 4

makes claim on humanity though this code
- injunction to establish courts
- prohibition of blasphemy
- prohibition of sexual transgressions
- prohibition of bloodshed
- prohibition of robbery
- prohibition of eating flesh cut from a living animal

Question 5

The study of Jewish law

Answer 5

• religious duty
• individuals are empowered to participate in evolution of the law
  –> ongoing enterprise (democratic), not dictated from above

Question 6

historical periods in Jewish law

Answer 6

1) biblical period
2) talmudic period
(1st century BCE - 5th century CE)
3) Geonic period
(6th - 12th century)
4) period of the Early Authorities (Rishonim)
(13th - 16th century)
5) period of the later Authorities (Aharonim)
(17th century - present)

Question 7

main geographic centers of legal activity

Answer 7

1) land of Israel
2) land of Babylonia
(talmudic and Geonic periods)
3) North Africa
4) Ashkenaz Franco-Germany
–> 3 +4: Sfarad the Iberian peninsula
(later)

–> peripheral centers largely under their influence

Question 8

Jewish law as a legal system

Answer 8

• no hierarchical institutional structure
• not the positive law of any state
• its central institution (Great Sanhedrin), the high court, has not existed for about 2000ys
  –> certain parts (e.g. “criminal law” haven’t been in force since)

Question 9

elements of Jewish law

Answer 9

a) rabbinical establishment
- teachers & students of the law at the rabbinical academies (yeshivot) study canonical texts of Jewish law
–> debates & dialogues
b) Jewish communal establishment, responsible for conducting the civil affairs of Jewish communities
c) members of the community adopting customs
–> forces establishment to acknowledge and sometimes condoning or attempting to repress them
d) the Gentile (not Jewish) societies within which Jews live

Question 10

de facto legal pluralism

Answer 10

• communities guided by different halakhic authorities
• no rigid schools of thought
  –> works & rulings of every halakhic authority important for halakhic dialogue
  BUT communities see themselves as constituting a single system (sociological point of view)

Question 11

Legislative & Judicial Institutions

Answer 11

• rulings of Sanhedrin were universally valid
• nowadays all legislation (takanot) only local validity
• Courts (batei din) in halakhic literature extensively discussed
  (e.g. alternative methods of dispute resolution like arbitration, examination of witnesses or implementation of ruling)
  –> applicability in practise dependent of autonomy granted within the community by Gentile authorities

Question 12

Talmudic law

Answer 12

formative era of Jewish law
foundational texts:
- the Mishna
- the Talmud

Question 13

3 levels of (Jewish) law

Answer 13

• theoretical law (halakha)
• law intended for implementation (halakha lemaase)
• concrete rulings
  –> judge can deviate from law and base its ruling on extralegal considerations (to impose the spirit of the Torah,)
  –> but in most cases no discrepancy
  “Consider what ye do, for ye judge not for men, but for the Lord”
  –> religious dimension of halakha apparent

Question 14

absence of 3 almost universal legal institutions

Answer 14

• equity courts
  –> corrective device to redress inflexibility not needed given the freedom accorded to the judge
• courts of appeal
  –> uniformity of the law & supremacy of the rules not a priority
  -the doctrine of binding precedent
  –> potentially ad hoc nature of halakhic legal decisions

Question 15

Jewish Law in the State of Isreal

Answer 15

• positive law only recognizes Jewish law in the realm of family law and in a few isolated laws pertaining to religious observance
• rabbinical courts unconnected to the state
• focus of much scholarly interest

Question 16

Non-orthodox Understanding of Jewish Law

Answer 16

• no divide between conservative and orthodox understanding of Jewish law
• Beginning 19th century Reform movement rejected halakha