FORHANDLING OG DOKUMENTATION: Traditionel lov i Øvreægypten

Abstract

1. C. Korsholm Nielsen: Negotiation and

Documentation. Customary Law in

Upper Egypt

This article is concemed with customary law

in a district in Upper Egypt. It is based on an

interpretation of fifty documents (mahadar

al-sulh) issued within the last 25 years in

connection with the settling of disputes

among the people of the area. The

documents were collected during ethnographic

field research carried out from 1994

until 1996. The article describes the

documents, their content, and the traditional

reconciliation councils (majålis al-sulh)

which issue them, and argues, that although

the introduction of documents - and thereby

“writing” - into the reconciliation process

could be expected to alter the tradition, it

seems that the documents are so closely

related to singular and unique cases that no

ostensible change is taking place. The tradition

is still transmitted orally and depends

on the experience of individual men. The

documents, rather, are introduced as

mnemonic devices related to singular cases

and do not constitute a body of legal text.