This study focuses on judicial practice in the Andalusian metropolis of Córdoba during the years 456/1064 to 464/1072. The author analyses the writings of councils of the judiciary, who commented, often controversially, on cases heard by courts pertaining to different judiciary systems.
These texts offer new insights into the organization of the city’s judiciary and its social and economic life. They allow for a precise definition of the relation between the qadi and governmental jurisdiction. By examining both realms, the author demonstrates -for the first time in a pre-Ottoman context- that fiqh, the Islamic system of ethical and juridical norms, was held, by all forms of the judiciary of this Muslim capital, to constitute a fundamental component of the legal system. The author develops a new interpretation of the reciprocity between society and law.