Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
Loading next page...
/lp/brill/book-review-the-expert-witness-in-islamic-courts-medicine-and-crafts-j1XqwDQnlk
References
References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.
- Publisher
- Brill
- Copyright
- © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
- ISSN
- 0043-2539
- eISSN
- 1570-0607
- DOI
- 10.1163/15700607-00551p10
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
In his meticously researched study on the role of expert legal court witnessing in Islamic history, Ron Shaham adresses an issue of fundamental importance for the study of Islamic law. He approaches the question of expert witnessing on a theoretical level as well as in connection to issues of legal practice. The book is divided into two parts, ‟The Premodern Period” and ‟The Modern Period”. The fundamental theoretical question in classical sources was whether statements of experts had to be considered a testimony or reporting. This question was not mere hairsplitting since it impacted directly on the required number of experts, which was in turn of significant practical relevance. Shaham points out that the prevalent opinion among the classical jurists was that the expert is a witness and therefore two experts were required at the court. However, this was linked to the caveat that one expert would suffice if two were not available. Shaham argues convincingly that this position owed to pragmatic considerations. He then goes on to give a detailed description of the different contexts in which expert opinion would be requested. Shaham divides this depiction into two chapters on male and female experts. It is shown
Journal
Die Welt des Islams – Brill
Published: May 10, 2015