Table of Contents

Introduction
Part One: The socio-logic of Islamic legal reasoning
1: Equity and discretion in Islamic law
2: Islamic case-law and the logic of consequence
3: Islamic law as common law: Power, culture, and the reconfiguration of legal taxonomies
4: Responsibility and compensatory justice in Arab culture and law
Part Two: In and out of court
5: From courtroom to courtyard: Law and custom in popular legal culture
6: On the docket: Changing conventions in a Muslim court, 1965-1995
7: Local justice: A day in an alternative court
8: Who do you trust? Structuring confidence in Arab law and society
Part Three: Justice past and present
9: Islamic concepts of justice and injustice
10: Muhammad's sociological jurisprudence
11: Private thoughts, public utterances: Law, privacy, and the consequences for community
12: Islam and Islamic culture in the courts of the United States
References
Index

About the Author

Lawrence Rosen is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Princeton University

Reviews

`... offers an intriguing and thought-provoking review of Islamic law for anyone concerned with law in a global age.'
Journal of Law and Society, volume 28 number 4 (2001)
`outstanding book on Islamic Shari'a...valuable for students and scholars of Middle Eastern studies, law and hisoty.'
Disclosure Issue 5 December 2000
`sub-titled Comparative Perspectives on Islamic Law and Society, ... is a bold claim, ... but amply justified in the extensively researched, closely argued and highly informative material that is evident throughout.'
Ramnick Shah, New Law Journal
`it is in the field of daily adjudication, by way of application of Islam law, that we need a guide such as this, to understand how religious rituals and beliefs dominate the lives of individuals in Islamic societies. The book serves this purpose admirably.'
Ramnick Shah, New Law Journal.
`For the serious reader, there is much to occupy and engage, but at the same time there is a lighter side too.'
Ramnick Shah, New Law Journal.
`it will serve as a necessary tool to understanding one-fifth of humanity who are caught between the forces of tradition and change in a vast, global community.'
Ramnick Shah, New Law Journal.
`a contextual analysis of islamic law rather than abstract and superficial description.'
Dr A Wardak, University of Glamorgan