IN THE COURTS OF THE NATIONS - DataSpace - Princeton ...

and Muslim was responsible for arranging his own guards. In an entry three months later, the
Jews of Demnat again complained about al-Jīlālī’s refusal to pay the indemnity, saying that he
“broke with custom in this [argument], and that the guards have been his responsibility for a long
time…and that the Jews pay 750 (riyāls? mithqāls?) [for the guards].” 114 The sultan responded
that where there were guards, they were responsible for paying—which seemingly confirms that
al-Jīlālī was liable for the indemnity. 115 Significantly, the appeal to custom won out in the end;
since Jews paid collectively for the guards, the guards’ failure to protect the store was al-Jīlālī’s
responsibility. This case shows that simply determining who was liable in a given case could be
cause for significant confusion.
It was sometimes similarly difficult to determine who was responsible for paying an
overdue debt. An entry from March 12, 1890 records the response of Ibn ‘Amāra al-Dasūlī
about the complaint of Ya‘aqov Assarraf concerning a debt he was owed. 116 Al-Dasūlī reported
that after an investigation, he found that the debt was contracted “by the previous governor Ibn
al-‘Azīzī and those with him, and that he had made this transaction [in order to pay] the
Makhzan’s taxes (kāna ṣarafa dhālika fī al-kulaf al-makhzaniyya).” It is likely that the previous
governor had borrowed money when taxes came due either because he had failed to collect
sufficient funds or because he had already spent the money. In any case, by this time Ibn al-
‘Azīzī had died. The sultan finally ruled that the entire region was responsible for paying the
debt. Even though neither al-Dasūlī nor anyone still living in his region had contracted the debt,
al-Dasūlī was held responsible for payment as the local Makhzan official in charge. 117
114
BH, K 157, p. 67-8, 8 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1306. (fa-qad kharaqa al-wāqi‘a fī dhālika wa-anna al-‘assata hiya ‘alā
yadihi min qadīmin…wa-’l-yahūd yu‘ṭūna 750.)
115
Qāla mawlānā ḥaythu al-‘assatu waqa‘a yu’addūna.
116
BH, K 171, p. 6, 20 Rajab 1307.
117
For similar types of confusion, see BH, K 181, p. 222, 15 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1309. I also found one instance in which
the debtor requested that the case be handled by an official other than the one under whose jurisdiction he fell
211