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

clarify when and why he had taken the mule. 6 Al-Ṭayyib responded that about a year ago
Shalom had taken the mule to ride it, but that even when he had asked for its return Shalom had
delayed. 7 Shalom then declared that he denied the charges, to which al-Ṭayyib responded that he
wanted Shalom to take an oath to that effect. 8 We do not know the outcome of this case or the
fate of the disputed red mule. But these unknowns do not change the fact that Shalom was sued
in a sharī‘a court after he acquired American protection. 9
Suing a protégé in sharī‘a court was contrary to all the stated rules of jurisdiction outlined
in Morocco’s treaties with foreign nations; according to these agreements, anyone (whether a
Moroccan subject, foreigner, or protégé) who wanted to sue Shalom should have brought the
case to the American consular court in Tangier. Yet as noted in the previous chapter, these rules
were often observed in the breach. Perhaps the contracts which formed the basis of the above
lawsuits included the “protection clause,” that is, a statement saying that the creditor would not
claim foreign protection and any dispute would be adjudicated in a sharī‘a court. 10 Even if this
was the case, such a clause would have violated the jurisdictional boundaries established by the
relevant treaties.
Shalom’s experience points to a larger truth about the nature of protection and consular
courts in Morocco; on the one hand, protégés like Shalom did not frequent consular courts
exclusively once they obtained patents of protection. On the contrary, sharī‘a courts (as well as
batei din and Makhzan courts) remained important in the daily lives of even those Jews who had
6
See entry dated 6 Ramaḍān 1301.
7
See entry dated 7 Ramaḍān 1301. In fact, al-Ṭayyib did not recall when Shalom had taken the mule until two
weeks later: see entry dated 21 Ramaḍān 1301.
8
Recorded in two separate entries dated 22 Ramaḍān 1301.
9
For the other cases, see TC, File #2, 29 Dhū al-Qa‘da 1291; File #5, 15 Rabī‘ II 1292; File #5, 9 Dhū al-Qa‘da
1292; File #8, 12 Jumādā I 1296; File #7, 12 Dhū al-Qa‘da 1297.
10
I discuss this clause in Chapter Two. Since we do not have the original contracts which formed the basis of these
lawsuits, it is impossible to know for sure whether this clause was included.
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