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

abusive Makhzan officials, infringements of Jewish autonomy, and other Jews whom the
petitioners found problematic. These collective petitions indicate that Jews held the Makhzan
accountable for perceived injustices committed by its representatives. The Makhzan’s response,
in turn, shows that it felt responsible for the well being of its Jewish subjects, even to the point of
ensuring the proper functioning of Jewish legal institutions.
Part Three goes from the national to the transnational through an examination of courts
operated by foreign consulates in Morocco. Chapter Seven provides the necessary background
information for understanding the functioning of the consular courts and their evolution over the
course of the nineteenth century. Chapter Eight looks more specifically at how Jews with
consular protection or foreign nationality, and thus access to consular courts, made use of these
legal institutions. This chapter argues that consular courts operated to a large extent in
cooperation with sharī‘a courts and the Makhzan, showing that Jews with access to consular
courts did not definitively abandon the Islamic legal orders which they had previously used. I
also demonstrate that Jews with access to consular courts engaged in forum shopping, sometimes
choosing sharī‘a or Makhzan courts over foreign ones when those proved more favorable to their
interests. Finally, Chapter Nine takes a broader view of the role of foreigners in Jews’ legal
strategies in Morocco, looking at how foreign diplomats and Jewish organizations intervened in
the legal lives of Moroccan Jews. This chapter seeks to understand Jews’ appeals to foreigners
in the context of their often simultaneous appeals to Moroccan legal institutions, especially the
Makhzan. I argue that the dominant historiography misrepresents Jews’ relationship with
foreigners as one of victim and savior; rather, I present a more fluid model in which Jews’ ties to
the Makhzan, foreigners, and even other Jews shifted according to the circumstances of a given
case.
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