| dc.description.abstract | The Israeli legal system is unique in that it straddles the two otherwise opposing
worlds of tradition and innovation. This creates an enigma for the comparatist,
making the exploration of this system an onerous and challenging task. The author
wishes to maintain that the system in question is highly innovative and ascribes this
quality to the proactive character of the Israeli Supreme Court, whose activism has
had a major impact on the character of the domestic system as a whole. While the
author explores the reasons why this has been the case, one of his main concerns in
this paper will be to examine the innovative character of the Israeli Supreme Court
per se, in comparison with equivalent courts in other parts of the world. In addition
the author will seek to establish inter alia the character of the Israeli legal system by
focusing on the three different elements that co-exist in the Israeli socio-legal
structure (the Jewish element vis-à-vis the Arab element; the Liberal element vis-àvis
the Orthodox element within the Jewish community; and the Civilian element visà-
vis the Common law element). The author wishes to posit that the amalgamation of
different legal and cultural traditions in Israel created a sui generis state of affairs for
the legal system as a whole. This results in an overall systemic-methodological
amalgamation which does not occur elsewhere in the world. The article concludes
that the enigmatic and innovative characteristics of the Israeli legal system derive
from the novel way in which the legal mix has occurred in this system (as opposed to
the ingredients of the elements in the mix). In this respect, Israel may have
contributed much to the reinvigoration of the modern comparative law agenda, and it
may continue to do so in the future, as the system is not one of legal stasis (a mixed
system) but one of legal kinesis (a mixing system). | en_US |
