The Anthropology of Justice: Law as Culture in Islamic Society

In this first full-scale study of the operations of a modern Islamic court of law in the Arabic-speaking world, the author examines the cultural foundations of judicial discretion. He shows how the analysis of legal systems requires an understanding of the concepts and relationships encountered in everyday life. Using the Islamic courts of Morocco as its substantive base, he demonstrates how the shaping of facts in a court of law, the use of local experts, and the organization of the judici...