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

Dinar Ohana), an American protégé, went to the American consul in Essaouira claiming that he
was owed a debt by Ḥājj Ibrāhīm al-Bū Darārī. 73 Dinar presented the consul with Hebrew legal
documents proving the debt. Strictly speaking, both the local Makhzan authorities and the qāḍī
of Essaouira should have rejected this evidence since it did not meet Islamic standards of proof;
yet as we have seen, Makhzan courts sometimes did accept Jewish legal documents as evidence.
Perhaps Dinar was counting on this sort of exception in submitting Jewish bills of debt for his
caes against Ibrāhīm. 74 There were even cases in which Christians had their commercial
transactions with Jews notarized by sofrim. 75
Dayyanim were also typically responsible for administering oaths sworn by Jews,
including Jews with foreign protection. 76 In one instance, the French commercial firm Jourdan
Buy et Co. demanded that Samuel and Pinchas Toledano, Moroccan Jews with French
protection, swear on the Torah scroll concerning their declaration of bankruptcy. 77 The
Toledano brothers refused to swear on the Torah, offering instead to swear before the French
consul. Buy, however, insisted that they take an oath according to Jewish law, presumably
73 USNA, Reg. 84, v. 29, Abraham Corcos to ‘Amāra, Rabī‘ I 1299/ 30 January 1882.
74 See also FO, 631/7, p. 102b, 24 August 1885.
75 See, e.g., FO, 631/7, p. 55a-56b, 20 September 1880; DAR, Yahūd, 29230, Muḥammad b. Sa‘īd to Mawlāy
Ḥasan, 22 Dhū al-Qa‘da 1307; BH, K 551, p. 93, 27 Dhū al-Qa‘da 1307.
76 MAE Nantes, Tanger A 138, Affaire Decugis contre Pinhas Bendahan, 1845; MAE Nantes, Tanger A 163, Jordan
Buy to Ordega, 22 November 1882. See also FO 631/2, public protest by Moses Penyer, 3 February 1859. In this
protest, Penyer attempted to discredit the oath taken by Eliezer Davila, a Moroccan Jewish subject whom Penyer
accused of owing him money. Although Davila took an oath that he did not owe Penyer anything, Penyer argued
that according to Jewish law this oath was invalid: “And he [Penyer] further declares that said oath was illegal as it
was taken after the Jewish sabbath had commenced and by order of the governor who when the rabbis to whom the
said Eliezer Davila had been sent by the governor to take the oath declared that on account of being sabbath the oath
could not be taken the governor ordered that it should be….” This is an interesting instance of a protégé invoking
halakhah to argue his case.
77 Tanger, B 1326, Vernouillet to Jourdan Buy, 20 October 1880 and 14 December 1880.
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