1. On holding court in houses, cf. Mandaville 1969:72; and EI 2, art. "Masdjid"; Tyan 1960:277; al-Murtada 1973:283 n. 2.

2. These perspectives and Weber's "kadijustiz" are criticized in the light of Moroccan shari'a court ethnography in Rosen 1980-81; 1989:58-59.

3. E.g., al-Wasi'i 1928:295, but also in colloquial usage.

4. Serjeant and Lewcock 1983:145, citing Sirat al-Hadi ila al-Haqq .

5. Observed by Rihani (1930:89; cf. 90, 104, 129), who is quoted by al-Wasi'i, same page. Also observed by Salvador Aponte, quoted in Salim (1971:478); and by al-'Azm 1937:180-81. Reported also in the official newspaper (Obermeyer 1981).

6. Cf. al-Wasi'i 1928:126-27, on a Turkish wali who is described in the same formulas.

7. On wajh as shaykhly honor, see Dresch 1989; 1990.

8. Imam Yahya stopped making himself available in his later years (Obermeyer 1981:189).

9. Starr 1978:115, 122, 189-91, 208, 231, 261, 269; Liebesny 1975:108; Berkes 1964:165. Ottomans in Yemen: al-Wasi'i 1928:175, 211; in earlier periods, al-Khazraji 1911:231; in the nineteenth century in the era of Faquih Sa'id (al-Hibshi 1980:95).

10. Normally, shakwas concern individual-individual matters, although they can represent claims against officials (e.g., al-Wasi'i 1928:178, 211). A right of complaint against judges and other officials had long been fundamental in the Ottoman Empire (cf. EI 2, art. "Mahkama:2. The Ottoman Empire, i. The earlier centuries," pp. 3-5). In Ottoman Ibb, the shakwa was known as an 'ard hal ; in Egypt, there were ardhaljis , writers of complaints (Ziadeh 1968:22). The Constitution of the Yemen Arab Republic affirms this right (Art. 44): "Yemenis shall have the right to complain to any state organization concerning violations of the laws by public officials or their negligence of the duties of their office."

11. Nizam al-Mulk 1960:14.

12. EI 2, art. "Mazalim." Cf. Schacht (1964:51, 54, 189) for mazalim jurisdictions as courts of complaints, on siyasa as a synonym, and as appellate courts. In the Ottoman Empire the mazalim jurisdiction was for more serious criminal and civil cases (Gibb and Bowen 1950:116). A court of complaints was established in Saudi Arabia in 1954 (Schacht 1964:88). In preprotectorate Morocco, pashas acted as judges in criminal and civil matters (Rosen 1979: 76). Maktari (1971:94) mentions "ruler's tribunals" in the nearby Lahj sultanate. Cf. EI 2, art. "Mahkama: ii. The Reform Era (ca. 1789-1922)," pp. 5-9.

13. In 1980 I collected shakwas and inventoried their volume, origin, and type at the two main shakwa-receiving offices in Ibb, those of the governor and of the subdistrict officer.

14. I have a collection of about 100 shakwas delivered to Ibb by mail from outlying districts in about 1950. (Cf. Ibn Khaldun 1958, 1:389f. on mails and the political danger of obstructing them.) One shakwa, dated 1950, is of relevance. It concerns the desired return of five familiar books (identified simply as Diwan Hafiz, Kitab al-Insha', Muluk al-Muslimin, Rihla Nazih Bek, and Kitab al-Shifa') which the petitioner originally gave as a deposit for a now repaid loan of six riyals.

15. A former secretary to Imam Ahmad was my principal source, although this activity has also been described by travelers.

16. Hajib— Law 121 of 1976: Art. 104 ( al-Tashri'at ).

17. My study of cases from the Ibb niyaba office concerned the first months of its operation in 1980. National niyaba case volume from 1981 to 1986 is given in al-'Alimi 1989:218, table 9.

18. Cf. Gerholm 1977:74, 195, n. 7.

19. Unlawful intercourse, false accusation of unlawful intercourse, drinking wine, theft, and highway robbery.

20. Al-Nawawi 1884:376, 379; cf. 418 (accepting secondary testimony), 430 (on a minor a judge might know to have been found); al-Ghazzi 1894:684; al-Murtada 1973:284.

21. See the important comparative discussion of "local knowledge" in Geertz 1983. For Morocco, Rosen has examined the general and specifically judicial patterns of "acquisition of knowledge about other people" (1984:18; 1989).

22. Al-Nawawi 1884:4 (but see p. 329).

23. Al-Nawawi 1884:436. Here I follow Van Den Berg as translated by Howard (Al-Nawawi 1914).

24. Al-Nawawi 1884:427.

25. Al-Nawawi 1884:376.

26. Al-Nawawi 1884:450-51. This specialization was also required to determine the identity of a foundling's father. On the science of firasa , see Mourad 1939; Fahd 1966, chap. 3.

27. Also envisioned in the new legislation-- al-sulta al-qada'iyya , Art. 21.

28. Dorsky 1986; Makholouf 1979; Myntti 1979.

29. Al-Nawawi 1884:408.

30. Al-Ghazzi 1894:708, 710.

31. Al-Ghazzi 1894:710.

32. Al-Nawawi 1884:446 gives an example concerning establishing the religion of one's parents, which may well be ''known.''

33. A "standard definition" from al-Qarafi (1967:349) is "the report of something sensible by a group of people whom experience precludes from acting in concert" (quoted in Zysow 1984:14).

34. In the Majalla (Arts. 1732-35, p. 250) tawatur is used to refer to evidence.

35. A sharik could be a partner in commerce, or a tenant farmer, or a co-resident, etc.

36. Cf. Majalla , Art. 43: " al-ma'ruf 'urfan ka-l-mashrut shartan ," perhaps being quoted by the judge.

37. See the cautions in Schacht 1964:62; and counter views in Udovitch 1970.

38. Abu Shuja' 1894:702; al-Nawawi 1884:402. Cf. chap. 8, 20.

39. See Udovitch 1970, 1985. Ibb Chamber of Commerce founded 1974; commercial courts enacted by Law 40 of 1976 ( al-Jarida al-Rasmiyya 11, no. 3 (1976):4-5. This material will be presented in detail in a later work.

40. See Dresh 1989. The Ibb material will be covered in a later work.

41. Wa yajibu 'ala al-hakim an yahkamu bil-shar' fi mudu' al-shar' wa al-man' fi hukm al-man' (Rossi 1948:33, cited Adra 1982:166).

42. See the discussion on state qanun or law as a type of custom, in EI 2, art. "Mahkama."

43. These types may be diagrammed as follows:

44. Al-Murtada 1973:283 in Bab al-qada'; cf. Bab al-sulh, pp. 279-80.

45. In Sharh al-Azhar , Ibn Miftah A.H. 1357:317, adab al-qadi section. The "so long as judgment is not clear" formula occurs as well in the early letters, which also advocate compromise (Serjeant 1984).

46. Quoted, al-Murtada 1973:279n, and in the early letters (Serjeant 1984).

47. Al-Wasi'i 1928:219.

48. Tafwid entails various possible categories of powers.

49. Al-Nawawi 1884:366. Al-Nawawi cites both a position that holds it

totally impermissible and a wider view that allows it only when there is no state judge in the district.

50. In an Ibb tahkim judgment dated A.H. 1332 [1913], for example, the resolution occurred under shari'a court auspices and included a formal presentation of evidence by witnesses. The mutual agreement of the two parties with the finding is noted at the end of the document. Cf. Majalla , pp. 266-67 on tahkim rules.

51. Case document dated A.H. 1379 [1959], using the related formula of ikhtiyar ("choice")--of the shari'a judge of nearby Dhi Sufal in this instance--as the arbitrator.

52. Published in 'Afif 1982:261 ( wa min warada ilayhi bil-taradi min ghayrihim ); p. 265 ( tahkim shari'at allah ).

53. In 1980, legislation was pending on tahkim . Cf. "Mashru' qanun al-tahkim," Lajna Taqnin Ahkam al-Shari'a al-Islamiyya, Majlis al-Sha'b al-Ta'sisi, n.d. (mimeo, 4 pp.), and "Al-Mudhakkira al-tafsiriyya li-mashru' qanun al-tahkim," Ministry of Justice n.d. (mimeo, 11 pp. with an attached 4-page ministry version of the "mashru'"). Copies in my files.

54. Cf. biography in al-Shawkani A.H. 1348, 2:333.