030567 MC Historical Jewish Law Moot Court (2019S)

The Historical Jewish Law Moot Court, run by the University of Vienna, the Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, the Moscow State University, the University of Tel Aviv and Yeshiva University, Cardozo Law School, New York aims at introducing participants to Jewish law as it was practiced in the early modern period. The focus is on the application of Jewish law under concrete historical conditions rather than on Jewish law as a timeless normative system, on "law in action" rather than on "law in the books". In 2016 a case from the 18th century, where guardians were tried for the embezzlement of the property of an orphan before the Rabbinical Court of Frankfurt-on-Main provided the background for the Historical Jewish Law Moot Court. In 2017 and 2018 cases adjudicated by the Rabbinic Tribunal of Prague, arguably the most important Jewish legal forum both in the Western Ashkenazic world and in the Holy Roman Empire, served as a point of reference for the Historical Jewish Law MC. In 2019 the Historical Jewish Law MC will be held in conjunction with the Ius Commune MC with the finals taking place at the Supreme Court of the State of Israel in Jerusalem. A case which the Imperial Aulic Council in Vienna decided in part on the basis of Jewish law will serve as a historical reference case.