Louis Phlips: Blog Post #2

Visiting the Israeli Supreme Court was both fascinating and very informative! Not only was I able to learn more about the inner workings of the Israeli legal system, but I was also able to make comparisons with the American legal system as well. This is especially interesting to me, since I am also a criminal justice major and have taken classes concerning the American legal system before. Unlike the United States, the state of Israel does not have a constitution and its legal system is a hybrid: while it is Western in culture, it evolved from both English Common Law and Civil Law.  The country’s unique historical experience created an Israeli legal system with its own unique jurisprudence. In addition to this, I learned that there are several features that are unique to Israel and set its judicial system apart from the United States. Some of the more notable aspects of Israeli law are the following:

-          The jury system does not exist in the state of Israel. Instead of having a jury, there are usually 3 judges that sit on a panel; in rare cases they may sit in larger panels with up to 11 justices.

-          The presumption of innocence applies.

-          Almost all cases are tried by the lowest court unless the crime is severe, or there is a lot of monetary damage.

-          Every litigant automatically gets the chance to appeal once.

One final aspect that I found to be extremely fascinating is the religious court system; it is unlike any other American system and unique to Israel. According to the tour guide, it was established around 1947, and was established in order to better serve the various religious communities in Israel. The Jewish religious courts’, the Rabbinical courts, jurisdiction is limited to matters of marriage and divorce. The Muslim, Christian and Druze have their own religious courts which have similar jurisdiction over their followers, although Muslim religious courts have more control over family affairs