Table of Contents

Foreword Introduction Part One The Plural Legal Landscape: Family Laws in Syria Chapter 1 Law, Politics, and Religion in Syria: Past and Present Chapter 2 Mapping the Plurality of Jurisdictions: The Laws of Personal Status Chapter 3 Debating and Changing Family Law Part Two Unity in Multiplicity: Muslim and Christian Laws and Legal Practices Chapter 4 Patriarchy, Religion, and Legal Rules Chapter 5 The Versatility of Personal Status Law: Legal Practices in a Shar?iyya Court Chapter 6 The Catholic court: Guardian of Order and Sacraments Chapter 7 Conclusion

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A valuable contribution to understanding the historical, socio-political and religious complexities that mark today's Syria

About the Author

Esther van Eijk is a postdoctoral researcher in the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University and holds a PhD from Leiden University. Her work has appeared in the books Family Law in Islam: Divorce, Marriage and Women in the Muslim World and Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present. She has also published in the journals Electronic Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law and Erasmus Law Review. She is Board Member and Secretary of the Dutch Association for the Study of the Law of Islam and the Middle East.

Reviews

"This book is a significant addition to the literature on contemporary family law in the Middle East, with valuable research material on Syrian law and court practice presented within the frames of emerging scholarly themes." - Lynn Welchman, Professor of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London; "This is an excellent piece of work in a poorly researched topic. Indeed, while the personal status of Muslims attracted much attention, family law of non-Muslim communities in Muslim-majority societies was neglected. However, its study provides a wonderful entry into the legal and social evolutions of contemporary multi-confessional societies in which co-existence and tolerance became especially problematic recently." - Baudouin Dupret, Director of Research at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France, Associate Professor for Law, Political Science and Anthropology at University of Leiden, Netherlands, and University of Louvain, Belgium