- Related Topics:
- Israel
Israeli law
-
What is Israeli law?
Israeli law represents a blend of legal traditions, incorporating elements of religious law, British common law, and its own parliamentary enactments. After Israel's independence in 1948, it adopted some Ottoman and English laws, but Hebrew replaced English as the primary legal language.
The Knesset, Israel's unicameral parliament, enacts laws. These laws are published in Reshumot, the Official Gazette. The court system consists of magistrate, district, and supreme courts. Religious courts handle personal status matters. Basic Laws, serving as guiding principles, originated from a political compromise when the Knesset couldn't agree on a formal constitution. These laws can be amended or repealed by a simple majority, with some requiring a supermajority.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How was Israeli law established after Israel became a country?
Following Israel's independence in 1948, some existing Ottoman laws and English common law were adopted, but Hebrew replaced English as the primary legal language. The Knesset, Israel's parliament, creates laws for the country. Although Israel never created a formal, written constitution, it has enacted basic laws on the Knesset, Israeli lands, the president, and the government.
The Israeli court system includes magistrate, district, and supreme courts. Religious courts handle personal status matters. Modern legislation addresses education, military service, and national insurance. Jewish law informs new laws and is applied by rabbinical courts in personal status cases.
5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What types of laws are included in Israel's legal system?
The legal system in Israel is pluralistic, drawing from various sources, including Ottoman and British legislation, religious court opinions, and enactments from the Knesset (Israeli parliament). Some key aspects include:
- Secular Courts Organized in three levels: magistrate's courts, district courts, and the Supreme Court in Jerusalem.
- Religious Courts These continue to be competent in matters of personal status, with some minor changes in the scope of jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts.
- Basic Laws Serve as guiding principles, in the absence of a formal written constitution. These laws can be amended or repealed by a simple majority, quasi-permanence has been inscribed into some basic law provisions by requiring a supermajority for the Knesset to act counter to the provision.
- Other Legislation Legislation covers most subjects with which the legislature of a modern welfare state is concerned, including education, compulsory military service, and national insurance.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How does Israel combine different legal traditions in its law?
Israeli law combines various legal traditions, reflecting its history and diverse influences. When Israel declared independence in 1948, it integrated Ottoman and British laws into its legal system. Over time, these were superseded by legislation enacted by the Knesset, Israel's parliament.
The legal system also incorporates elements of Jewish law, which is applied in religious courts for matters of personal status and serves as a source of inspiration for new legislation. This integration of Jewish, Ottoman, British common law, and modern Israeli law reflects Israel's unique position as a modern democratic state with ancient roots.
6 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What is the role of the Israeli Supreme Court?
The Israeli Supreme Court decides appeals from lower courts and has jurisdiction as a high court of justice. The president appoints judges to the Supreme Court, and these judges remain in office until retirement. The Israeli judiciary is highly independent from political influence.
As Israel does not have a formal written constitution, the Supreme Court has historically ruled against laws contradicting the series of basic laws that serve as guiding principles. The Supreme Court also helps shape new rules of law.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How are rights and freedoms protected under Israeli law?
Israeli law protects rights and freedoms through a series of Basic Laws that serve as guiding principles. These laws, such as Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, enumerate personal rights, including the rights to life, property, privacy, and freedom of occupation.
The Knesset can amend or repeal these laws with a simple majority, but some provisions require a supermajority, and most cannot be altered by emergency regulations. The High Court of Justice can strike down ordinary statutes that contradict Basic Laws. The judiciary is independent, and laws are based on Ottoman and British legislation, religious court opinions, and Israeli parliamentary enactments.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Israeli law, the legal practices and institutions of modern Israel. In ancient times, when the people of Israel lived in their homeland, they created their own law: the law of the Torah and the law of the Mishna and the Talmud (see Torah; Mishna). Then came the separation of land and people for more than 1,800 years. The law left the land together with those who had created it, and the land acquired other laws, changing from time to time with the change of consecutive conquerors. The Jews took their law with them wherever they went, continued to develop it, and submitted to it wherever their communities enjoyed any measure of autonomy. When the Jews thus eventually returned to their ancient land in the 20th century, they brought back with them a dual legal heritage: that of the historic Jewish law and that of the laws of the countries in which they had been living.
When Israel’s independence was proclaimed in 1948, some of the Ottoman enactments and much law of English origin continued to be applied, but English ceased to be the predominant legal language and was immediately replaced by Hebrew. The law was thenceforth made by the democratic authorities of the autonomous state of Israel, which, in spite of an Arab minority, became Jewish in conception, way of thinking, and purpose.
Israeli courts are composed of professional judges only, the jury being unknown. Secular courts are organized on three levels: magistrate’s courts, dealing with certain civil matters and offenses punishable with imprisonment up to three years; district courts in the four principal cities, with general jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters; and the supreme court in Jerusalem, deciding appeals from inferior courts and exercising, as court of first and only instance, jurisdiction as high court of justice. Religious courts continue to be competent in matters of personal status, with some minor changes in the scope of jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
In administrative law, legislation covers most subjects with which the legislature of a modern welfare state is concerned, including education, compulsory military service (for men and women), and national insurance. Particularly important for the economy of the country are the water law and the law on the encouragement of capital investments, both of 1959. Laws dealing with collective bargaining, labour exchanges, protection of wages, safety regulations, severance payment, and so on, are the nucleus of a code of labour law.
Developments in criminal law, torts, and evidence have been confined to piecemeal amendments of the pre-1948 law. Significant among these are the abolition of the death penalty for murder and the introduction of suspended prison sentences; a new way of taking evidence of minors in trials of sexual offenses; and liability of the state in torts. The rules of criminal procedure were consolidated in 1965: among other changes, preliminary inquiry was abolished; the civil procedure rules, mainly derived from their English counterpart, were also redrafted and revised.
In private law Israeli legislation includes a law on women’s equal rights; laws dealing with capacity and guardianship, adoption, and duties of maintenance between relatives; a law on the tenure of cooperative houses with separate ownership of flats; a standard contracts law; a comprehensive law of succession; laws on agency, guarantee, mortgage, and bailment; a defamation law and a patents law.
Jewish law as such continues to be applied by the rabbinical courts within their jurisdiction in matters of personal status; it is applied also by the civil courts when called upon to deal with such matters concerning Jews. In other fields of law it is not applied as the law of the land. It serves, however, as an important source for the shaping of new rules of law, both by the Knesset (parliament) and in the creative decisions of the courts.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
