730-431 Jewish Civil Law

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Subject Description:

The subject will introduce students to Jewish Civil Law (as opposed to religious law) - one of the world's oldest yet most enduring legal systems. It will explore Jewish laws many similarities with, and sometimes quite startling differences from, the Australian legal system. The course will examine Jewish laws historical development, its literary sources and its bases for legal authority. It will detail Jewish laws principles in a number of major fields, such as Criminal law, Family law and Labour law. It will analyse Jewish laws approach to a number of major legal concepts, such as acquisition of property and causation. A major them of the course will be to compare and contrast there principles and concepts with their counterparts in Australian law. Some emphasis will be given to aspects of Jewish laws response to recent scientific and technological problems, such as the definition of death and surrogate motherhood. The course will also consider examples of interaction between Jewish law and the Australian legal system.

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Prescribed Texts:

Printed materials will be issued by the Law School.

• M. Elon (ed), The Principles of Jewish Law, Keter Publishing, 2nd ed, 1995.
• I. Herzog, The Main Institutions of Jewish Law, (2 vols), Soncino Press Ltd, 1980.