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Chapter Four: The Role of the Makhzan in the Moroccan Legal System
The Assarrafs were clearly successful businessmen, attested to by the significant wealth
they amassed and the numerous commercial endeavors in which they took part. Much of this
success stemmed from their ability to sell goods on credit and subsequently collect the money
they were owed. As we have seen, when Shalom and Ya‘aqov sued someone in a sharī‘a court,
they almost always did so in order to reclaim unpaid debts. While at times suing their debtors
before the qāḍī was sufficient, in other instances collecting payment required further action on
the part of the Assarrafs.
Enter the Makhzan; when Jews (and Muslims, for that matter) were unable to resolve
their legal disputes at the local level, many turned to the central government for help. The
Assarrafs were no different; if they failed for whatever reason to collect their debts even with the
threat of litigation in a sharī‘a court, they at times chose to write to the Makhzan asking for its
intervention. Over the course of three years (from March 20, 1890 to 12, 1893) the Ministry of
Complaints recorded no less than seventeen items of correspondence concerning Ya‘aqov
Assarraf’s appeals to the Makhzan to help him settle his outstanding debts. 1
Sometimes Ya‘aqov’s appeals to the central government paid off rather quickly; once the
Makhzan had instructed its local officials to settle Ya‘aqov’s debts, many wrote back to report
1
Because of the nature of the Ministry of Complaints records (discussed below), it is impossible to know how many
times Ya‘aqov wrote to the Makhzan asking for its intervention. The seventeen items of correspondence are letters
written by twelve different local Makhzan officials back to the Minister of Complaints concerning instructions they
were given in response to Ya‘aqov’s appeals. It is possible that Ya‘aqov submitted only one appeal per local
Makhzan official; we can thus surmise that Ya‘aqov submitted between twelve and seventeen appeals over three
years. Another letter concerns a complaint submitted by Mordekhai Assarraf, Shalom’s brother (BH, K 181, p. 108,
5 Rajab1309). The archives also preserve a letter from Mawlāy Ḥasan to Sa‘īd b. Farajī, the governor of Fez,
concerning a complaint submitted by Shalom Assarraf about outstanding debts he was owed (although the letter
refers to Shlūmū (Shlomoh), the fact that the Jew concerned is described as al-Fāsī and is prominent enough to
warrant the sultan’s personal attention suggests that this is merely a scribal error): DAR, Fez, 29 Jumādā II 1298.
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