Jessica M. Marglin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780300218466
- eISBN:
- 9780300225082
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300218466.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, African History
This chapter traces French legal reforms in the early decades of the Protectorate and their impact on Jews' legal strategies. Colonial administrators attempted to harden the jurisdictional boundaries ...
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This chapter traces French legal reforms in the early decades of the Protectorate and their impact on Jews' legal strategies. Colonial administrators attempted to harden the jurisdictional boundaries separating Morocco's different legal orders in order to prevent forum shopping and promote the rationalization of the government. In doing so, they reduced the jurisdiction of Jewish and shariʻa courts. The French were not able to implement their legal reforms immediately; both Jews and Muslims initially resisted these far-reaching changes. Nonetheless, the colonial authorities eventually succeeded at imposing firm jurisdictional boundaries among different legal institutions. Yet these reforms had unintended negative consequences for Morocco's Jews—consequences that proved particularly hard to swallow given France's promises to emancipate the country's religious minority.Less
This chapter traces French legal reforms in the early decades of the Protectorate and their impact on Jews' legal strategies. Colonial administrators attempted to harden the jurisdictional boundaries separating Morocco's different legal orders in order to prevent forum shopping and promote the rationalization of the government. In doing so, they reduced the jurisdiction of Jewish and shariʻa courts. The French were not able to implement their legal reforms immediately; both Jews and Muslims initially resisted these far-reaching changes. Nonetheless, the colonial authorities eventually succeeded at imposing firm jurisdictional boundaries among different legal institutions. Yet these reforms had unintended negative consequences for Morocco's Jews—consequences that proved particularly hard to swallow given France's promises to emancipate the country's religious minority.
