Legal documents from the Judean desert: the impact of the Sharīʿa on Bedouin customary law

Preliminary Material /A. Layish -- Introduction One Tribal Arbitrators' Documents As A Source Of Legal History /A. Layish -- Introduction Two The Sedentary Bedouin Of The Judean Desert /A. Layish -- Introduction Three Tribal Judiciary And Customary Law /A. Layish -- Document One Submission, Tribal Award And Registration With Notary Public (1978) /A. Layish -- Document Two Murder with No Witnesses and Exculpatory Oath at al-Aqṣā Mosque (1954) /A. Layish -- Document Three Blood-Money Pact Reducing Tribal Liability (1966) /A. Layish -- Document Four Dissociation From Blood Group's Liability On Individual's Initiative (1963) /A. Layish -- Document Five Unintentional Vehicular Homicide And Reconciliation In The Presence Of A Qāḍī And A Muftī (1955) /A. Layish -- Document Six Unintentional Homicide Entailing Diya Muḥammadiyya (1975) /A. Layish -- Document Seven Diya Muḥammadiyya In The Presence Of A Sharʿī Qāḍī (1957) /A. Layish -- Document Eight An Eye For An Eye Or Monetary Compensation (1956) /A. Layish -- Document Nine Amputation Of The Hand Or Compensation Of One-Third Of A Diya Of A Person (1973) /A. Layish -- Document Ten Abduction, Marriage And Closure Of Criminal File (N.D.) /A. Layish -- Document Eleven Offense Against A Woman's Chastity Ṣā'iḥat Al-Ḍuḥā (1956) /A. Layish -- Document Twelve Cutting Down Trees, Damage To A Well, Etc. (1976) /A. Layish -- Document Thirteen Tribal Agreement On Regulations Relating To Corn Theft (1949) /A. Layish -- Document Fourteen Mukhtārs' Petition Concerning Shar'ī Marriage (N.D.) /A. Layish -- Document Fifteen Shar'ī Confirmation Of A Customary Marriage (1956) /A. Layish -- Document Sixteen Shar'ī Marriage Contract (1958) /A. Layish -- Document Seventeen Resort To Tribal Qāḍī Following The Harī'a Court's Failure To Solve A Dispute (1963) /A. Layish -- Document Eighteen Prompt Mahr Given To A Bride's Mother In Trust (1934) /A. Layish -- Document Nineteen Acknowledgment Of Mahr As Debt (1934) /A. Layish -- Document Twenty Agreement Between Brothers On Mobilizing Mahr Out Of The Estate (1957) /A. Layish -- Document Twenty-One Tribal Agreement On Mahr (1940) /A. Layish -- Document Twenty-Two Shar'ī Judgment Granting Maintenance (1964) /A. Layish -- Document Twenty-Three Bayt Shar'ī, Obedience And Divorce In The Sharī'a Court (1970) /A. Layish -- Document Twenty-Four Customary Khul': Compensation To Divorcing Husband On His Wife's Remarriage (1959) /A. Layish -- Document Twenty-Five Khul' Prior To Consummation To Be Effected In The Sharī'a Court (1966) /A. Layish -- Document Twenty-Six Consensual Divorce With Sureties To Be Effected In The Sharī'a Court (1974) /A. Layish -- Document Twenty-Seven Tribal Award Of Separation To Be Accomplished By Shar'ī Ṭalāq (1972) /A. Layish -- Document Twenty-Eight "Renunciation Divorce" On The Wife's Initiative In The Sharī'a Court (1962) /A. Layish -- Document Twenty-Nine Shar'ī Legal Opinion On Oath Of Suspended Divorce (N.D.) /A. Layish -- Document Thirty Agreement On Child's Custody And Maintenance (1979) /A. Layish -- Document Thirty-One Replacement Of Guardian Of Minors' Property By A Shar'ī Qāḍī (1904) /A. Layish.

This volume presents annotated English translations of 74 awards handed down by tribal arbitrators and other legal documents obtained from the Bedouin of the Judean Desert. The documents address such legal issues as blood and sexual offenses, family disputes, inheritance, private transactions in land and water rights, tribal boundaries, contracts and obligations. The documents, some of which date back to the 19th century, provide vital information on the process of Islamization of the tribal customary law in the precinct of the tribal judge.The facsimile reproductions of the manuscripts are in