The Historic and Contemporary Relationships between Halakhah and Mishpat Hamelukhah

This article introduces the Jewish Political Studies Review issue examining traditional sources for building a civil state in a halakhically-acceptable manner, drawing upon the halakhic category of mishpat hamelukhah. Jewish tradition knows two sources of legitimate legislative-judicial-governance activity. Principal among them is the halakhah which is traditionally understood as a direct development from God's covenant with Israel at Sinai. The Bible developed the semi-separated category of mishpat hamelukhah (the law of the kingdom), explicated in Deuteronomy 17:11-20 and I Samuel 8-15, a parallel and semi-separate legal-judicial governance system within the power of the kings and other civil rulers in Israel.