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

protection) of Yitzḥaq b. Nissim ha-Levy (Isḥāq b. Nisīm al-Lībī), a Spanish protégé. 56 Qudūr’s
local qā’id had earlier refused to register Qudūr as a mokhalet, claiming that Qudūr was a shaykh
and thus ineligible for foreign protection. However, the Spanish consul sent a legal document
notarized by ‘udūl which recorded the testimony of a lafīf (twelve Muslim men) who all swore
that Qudūr was not a shaykh, as well as eight other legal documents notarized by ‘udūl proving
the partnership between Qudūr and Yitzḥaq. By so doing, the Spanish consul employed the tools
of Islamic law to ensure the rights of his protégé. 57
Perhaps most importantly, the services of ‘udūl as notary publics were used for cases
among foreign subjects and protégés. There is no question that consular courts upheld contracts
legalized in the chancelleries of their own consulate or by other foreign consulates. 58 Yet
consular courts also relied on the notarization of ‘udūl as a method of legal proof for cases only
concerning foreigners. A case from 1895 nicely illustrates the extent to which Islamic legal
documents had become a regular feature of consular courts in Morocco. 59 Moshe Bendahan, a
Jew with French protection living in Casablanca, sued El Maati ben Fatmi, a Muslim with
Spanish protection, for unpaid debts which Fatmi had guaranteed. Fatmi’s guarantee of the debt
was recorded in a legal document notarized by ‘udūl. However, Enrique Ruiz, the Spanish
consul in Casablanca, argued that the guarantee was invalid because it was drawn up by ‘udūl
56 DAR, Safi, 4853, Spanish consul in Safi to ‘Abd al-Khāliq b. Hīma, 17 Muḥarram 1303/ 27 October 1885.
57 See also the legal document dated 10 Rabī‘ I 1305/ 26 November 1887 (in DAR, Ḥimāyāt) attesting to the fact
that “the pasha al-‘Arabī wuld Abī Muḥammad took away the patent of American protection from the Jew Maymon
b. Shawīl b. Sūsān, from Fez, and that the aforementioned dhimmī has no foreign protection but rather is under the
protection of the sultan.”
58 For examples of contracts notarized in consular chancelleries, see, e.g., MAE Nantes, Tanger A 139, Dossier
Benaim et Judah Delevante, 1848; FO, 635/4, p. 73a-b, 6 July 1876. For examples of legal documents relevant to
criminal cases, see: MAE Nantes, Tanger A 161, Jacob de Aron Cohen to Ordega, 4 November 1884; AGA, Caja M
12, exp. no. 1 (81/12), Dossier of Lorenzo Gomez Garcia, 1910. There are entire chancellery record books
preserved in a number of archives, such as in Archivo Histórico de Protocolos in Madrid (for Spanish consulates,
including those of Tangier, Rabat, Casablanca, Larache, Essaouira, Safi and Tetuan) and in MAE Nantes (in the
series “Actes de Chancellerie”).
59 MAE Nantes, Tanger A 164, Dossier Bendahan vs. El Maati ben Fatmi, 1895.
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