Hossein Sheikh. Studies of Bactrian Legal Documents

I only uploaded the table of contents, conclusion, and German summary here.

ASSOCIATION FOR IRANIAN STUDIES, 2020

What do we know about the idea and practice of justice in Bactria in late antiquity? The short answer is: not much. The scarcity of primary sources seems to have been the main obstacle that has made this subject unfamiliar to scholars of Iranian Studies. However, that reason is not valid anymore, because a number of Bactrian documents found in late antique Bactria (corresponding roughly to the northern region of modern- day Afghanistan) provide firsthand information on this topic. These documents are written in Bactrian, the only Middle Iranian language inscribed in cursive Greek alphabet, and dated between the early 4th and the late 8th century. They are varied: from administrative, economic and legal documents, to official and private letters reflecting the socio-political circumstances in Bactria. These documents have been translated by professor Nicholas Sims-Williams and my understanding of these documents is largely indebted to his work.

P.Heid.Kopt. (https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/book/286), 2018

Among more than 400 Sabaean inscriptions that have been discovered by the American Foundation for the Study of Man in recent excavations at MaΉram Bilqīs is a small category of texts, which we can describe as legal documents. This paper gives a brief report of these legal documents and draws attention to the significance of them for understanding Sabaean society. In addition, this paper presents a new Sabaean penal law that provides new information about legislation in SabaΜ. At the same time it is a full-scale penal law dealing with theft, robbery, justice, property, trade, transactions, transgressions against the law, and the fulfilment of religious duties to the god Almaqah. The punishments mentioned in this law are primarily monetary penalties and the replacement of stolen property.

Festschrift for Nicholas Sims-Williams

2017

This article presents a preliminary study of how an Imamite Shīʻī sharīʻa court in Iran in the Qājār period (1796-1925) issued a judicial decision in a lawsuit relating to religiously endowed property (vaqf). After an introduction to the state of research on sharīʻa court documents from Qājār Iran, we study how the scribe of an Imamite Shīʻī sharīʻa court in Neyrīz, a small town in the south-west province of Fārs, recorded details of a vaqf lawsuit onto a cotton document. Next, based on a comparative analysis between the Neyrīz sharīʻa court document and some previously edited Qājār sharīʻa court documents, we distinguish between the decision of a judge at the end of a lawsuit and the judge’s notarial certification of a claim based on the evidence of one party. We demonstrate that the recording procedures of the Neyrīz sharīʻa court leave no room for doubt that the judge issued a decision after he reviewed the evidence of both sides. This was important in order to ensure effective closure of the lawsuit in the decentralized Qājār judicial system. The article concludes with an edition and a facsimile of the Neyrīz sharīʻa court document.