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Literally translated, the Aramaic formulation  dina de-malkhuta dina means “the law of the kingdom is the [valid] law.” This rabbinic legal principle governs the recognition of other laws within Jewish religious law, the Halakhah. Foreign law thus takes the form of an external, more powerful system, whether this is a theoretically constructed Jewish kingdom or a non-Jewish state. The changing concepts of sovereignty and law necessitated an incessant redefinition of individual interpretations of this te…

The term ban (Hebr.  ḥerem) denotes an instrument of sanction available to the Jewish community institutions and rabbinical courts ( Bet din). As Jewish communities exercised autonomy, it became the crucial coercive means for imposing religious norms and concepts of social order. Use of the ban ended during the process of emancipation as premodern forms of Jewish community were increasingly superseded, in particular as modern state legislation replaced religious jurisdiction and abolished corporative status. 1. Early modern periodIn the early modern period, the ban…

The rabbinical court (Hebr.  bet din, law court) came into being as the decision-making body for Jewish communities in the late-antique Diaspora. By virtue of its status as an independent legislative forum that handled all legal affairs, the  bet din developed into one of the foundations of Jewish autonomy. The emancipation legislation of the 19th century removed its basis for existence in Europe, but it experienced arenaissance in Israel after the state was established.1. Origins, organization, and authority through the end of the early modern eraThe rabbinic court generally …