LEG 203Laws in the Middle East

This course provides an introduction to legal systems in the Middle East, defining the contours of a field of study that deserves to be called " Middle Eastern legal systems ". It introduces Middle Eastern law as a reflection of legal styles, many of which are shared by Islamic law and the laws of Christian and Jewish Near Eastern communities. This course will study as well the colonial legacy that shaped to a large extent the contemporary legal systems in the Middle East. It offers a detailed survey of the foundations of Middle Eastern law, using court archives and an array of legal sources from the earliest records of Hammurabi to the massive compendia of law in the Islamic classical age, through to the latest decisions of Middle Eastern high courts. It focuses on the way legislators and courts conceive of law and apply it in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon.