Shari'a and Custom in Libyan Tribal Society: An Annotated Translation of Decisions from the Shari'a Courts of Adjabiya and Kufra  (studies in Islamic Law and Society, 24)

Aharon Layish

This volume presents annotated English translation of 72 court decisions handed down by the Shari'a Courts of Adjabiya and Kufra roughly during the period 1930-1970; the original texts (facsimiles and edited documents) appeared in A. Layish, Legal Documents on Libyan Tribal Society in Process of Sedentarization (Wiesbaden, 1998).

The documents address personal status, succession, homicide and bodily injury, property, obligation, etc., and attest to the interaction between the Shari'a representing normative Islam, and tribal customary law, representing social reality in Cyrenaica during the aforementioned period. They also exemplify the qadi's role of bringing a Bedouin society within the orbit of normative Islam. A. Borg's essay Orality, Language and Language, and Culture in Arabic Juridical Discourse addresses cultural aspects of orality on the language of these documents.

The study is intended for Orientalists, Islamologists, legal and social historians, social scientists, and lawyers interested in Islamic and comparative law.

Aharon Layish, Ph.D. (1973), Emeritus Professor, Hebrew University, has published on Islamic, customary and Druze law, including Reinstatement of Islamic Law in Sudan under Numayri (Brill 2002 with G.R. Warburg). He is Executive Editor of Islamic Law and Society, and President of The Israel Oriental Society.