LEGAL PRACTICE IN AN ANDALUSĪ-MAGHRIBĪ SOURCE FROM THE TWELFTH CENTURY CE: THE MADHĀHIB AL-HUKKĀM FĪ NAWĀZIL AL-AHKĀM

Abstract

AbstractIn this article I examine a series of texts selected from the Madhāhib al-hukkām fī nawāzil al-ahkām, a collection of legal cases (nawāzil) compiled by Abū 'Abd Allāh Muhammad b. 'Iyād of Ceuta (d. 575/1179). These cases refer to actual legal disputes that occurred in Ceuta and other towns and villages of al-Andalus and the Maghrib. The examples studied here compensate for the lack of court records for the study of legal practice in al-Andalus and the Far Maghrib until the second half of the twelfth century CE. They shed light on relevant facets of legal practice such as the composition of the courts, court performance, the outcome of court activity in the form of fatwas and judgments, court practice ('amal), the jurisdiction of qādīs, the process of judicial review, the use of law by jurists and laymen, and certain aspects of the relationship between Mālikīs and non-Mālikīs in al-Andalus.