Infusion of the Common Law into the Legal System of Israel

Abstract

At the end of the Ottoman rule the legal system in Israel was ripe for change. The British conquest was welcomed, at least by the Jewish population, and under the circumstances there was no objection to absorbing the legal system of the new conqueror.British conquest in 1917 brought military rule but by 1920 a civil administration headed by High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel had already been installed. On July 24, 1922 the League of Nations bestowed upon Britain the Mandate over Palestine, and less than a month thereafter, on August 10, 1922, the Palestine Order-in-Council was enacted. This legislation was designed to serve as a “Constitution” for Mandatory Palestine. It established institutions of the Government—the executive authority, the legislative branch, the judiciary—and defined their powers. In particular, the sources of law to be applied by the civil courts were enumerated in Art. 46, while matters of personal status jurisdiction remained vested in the courts of the various religious communities.