Hanina Ben-Menahem () is an

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trained scholar at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

who specializes in

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish law (

Halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

). Ben-Menahem is critical of the legal positivist approach that dominates

Mishpat Ivri ''Mishpat Ivri'' (, "Jewish/Hebrew law/jurisprudence") are the aspects of ''halakha'' ("traditional Jewish law") that are relevant to non-religious or secular law. In addition, the term refers to an academic approach to the Jewish legal tradition ...

, a comparative legal approach to Halakha. He was also a renowned chancellor of law in which he made several advancement in jurisprudence. He argues that Jewish law is not a unified legal system and that its sources and principles are not logically and hierarchically ordered. Instead, he contends that Jewish law has a pluralistic structure, in regard both to its differing domains of authority (e.g.,

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

and

Sephardi Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

) and the co-existence of incompatible rules. He believes Halakha makes room for judicial discretion and deviation, leading to a non-systematic tolerance for controversy. Furthermore, Halakha lacks strict adherence to precedence, an appellate system, and "secondary rules of recognition" (cp. legal positivist H.L.A. Hart) to determine authoritative laws.

Selected works

* ''Judicial deviation in Talmudic law'' (1991) * "Towards a jurisprudential analysis of the ''kim li'' argument" in Shenaton Hamishpat ha-Ivri 6-7 (1979–80) *"Is there always one uniquely correct answer to a legal question in the Talmud?" in the Jewish Law Annual 6 (1987) 169-173 *Ben-Menahem, H. and Hecht, N.S., eds. Authority, Process and Method: studies in Jewish law. 1998 *"Postscript: the judicial process and the nature of Jewish law" in An introduction to the history and sources of Jewish law" eds. Hecht, Jackson, et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996 *"Maimonides on equity: reconsidering the Guide for the Perplexted III:34" in the Journal of Law and Religion v.XVII, nos. 1 & 2, 2002 pp. 19–48.

References

External links

Harvard Law School Faculty Directory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Menahem, Hanina Israeli jurists Israeli scientists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)