Law, Jewish

Hezser, Catherine

Abstract

Jewish law began in the biblical period and was expanded in its scope and detail in post-biblical Hellenistic and Roman times. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 ce rabbis functioned as legal adjudicators. Rather than dealing with ritual matters only, rabbinic halakhah encompassed all areas of daily life. In late antiquity, rabbinic jurisprudence in civil law, including family law and property law, was well established in the rabbinically defined Land of Israel and constituted a local, indigenous Jewish legal tradition and practice in the context of Roman and Byzantine imperialism. Jewish law always developed in environments in which other legal traditions were also practised and more or less known to Jewish legal experts and practitioners. Therefore a legal hybridity developed, in which a distinctly Jewish legal tradition shared certain legal forms, approaches, and concerns with the non-Jewish cultures it was in contact with.

Citation

Hezser, C. (2025). Law, Jewish. Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.9163

• Acceptance Date: Apr 18, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Jul 16, 2025
• Publication Date: Jul 16, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jul 17, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 17, 2125
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Oxford Classical Dictionary
• ISBN: 9780199381135
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.9163
• Keywords: Jewish, law, antiquity, rabbis
• Publisher URL: https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-9163