View source for Oral law

{{Short description|Code of conduct transmitted by oral tradition}}
An '''oral law''' is a [[code of conduct]] in use in a given [[culture]], [[religion]] or community application, by which a body of rules of human behaviour is transmitted by [[oral tradition]] and effectively respected, or the single rule that is orally transmitted.

Many cultures have an oral law, while most contemporary legal systems have a formal written organisation. The oral tradition (from the [[Latin]] ''tradere'' = to transmit) is the typical instrument of transmission of the oral codes or, in a more general sense, is the complex of what a culture transmits of itself among the generations, "from father to son". This kind of transmission can be due to lack of other means, such as in illiterate or criminal societies, or can be expressly required by the same law.

There has been a continuous debate over oral versus written transmission, with the focus on the perceived higher reliability of written evidence,<ref>Finnegan, 195-201</ref> primarily based on the "linear world of academia" where only written down records are accepted. However, "standard" theories of orality and literacy have been proposed.<ref>Goody, pp.27-68</ref>

== In jurisprudence ==
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2021}}
From a legal point of view, an oral law can be:
*a [[Habituation|habit]], or [[convention (norm)|custom]] with [[custom (law)|legal]] relevance or when the formal law expressly refers to it (but in this latter case, it is properly an indirect source of legal [[rights]] and [[Law of obligations|obligation]]s);
*a spoken command  or order that has to be respected as a [[law]] (in most modern western legal systems, some dispositions can be issued by word in given cases of emergency).
An oral law, intended as a body of rules, can be admitted in [[jurisprudence]] as long as it shows some efficacy, therefore it needs that the law is public, the human action is evaluated by a [[judge]] (ordinarily producing a [[Sentence (law)|sentence]] according to the general interpretation of the law) and then a [[punishment]] has eventually to be put into effect. Some oral laws provide all these elements (for instance, some codes of conduct in use among criminal associations like [[Sicilian Mafia|the Mafia]] do have a well known law, a judge, a condemnation), while others usually miss some of them.

==Albanian customary law==
{{Main|Kanun (Albania)}}
The [[Kanun (Albania)|Kanun]] is a set of [[Albanians|Albanian]] traditional [[customary law]]s, which has directed all the aspects of the [[Albanian tribes|Albanian tribal society]]. For at least the last five centuries and until today,{{when|date=January 2025}} Albanian customary laws have been kept alive only orally by the tribal elders. The success in preserving them exclusively through [[Oral tradition|oral systems]] is an indication of ancient origins.{{sfn|Galaty|2018|pp=101–102}} Strong pre-Christian motifs mixed with motifs from the Christian era reflect the stratification of the Albanian customary law across various historical ages.{{sfn|Trnavci|2010|p=205}} The Kanun has held a sacred – although secular – longstanding, unwavering and unchallenged authority with a cross-religious effectiveness over the [[Albanians]], which is attributed to an earlier [[Albanian paganism|pagan code]] common to all the [[Albanian tribes]].{{sfn|Tarifa|2008|p=11}} The northern Albanian customary law is among the Albanian literary monuments that are of interest to [[Indo-European studies]], reflecting many legal practices of great antiquity. It has been pointed out that "The laws governing such matters as hospitality, the rights of the heads of households, marriage, blood-feuds and payment of damages find precise echoes in Vedic India and ancient Greece and Rome".{{sfn|Fortson|2010|p=448}}{{sfn|Lafe|2021|p=81}}

Over time, Albanian customary laws have undergone their historical development, they have been changed and supplemented with new [[Social norm|norms]], in accordance with certain requirements of socio-economic development.<ref name="Elezi">{{Cite web|last=Elezi|first=Ismet|title=Zhvillimi historik i Kanunit të Labërisë, in ''Mbledhja e Normave të Kanunit të Labërisë''|url=https://kanunilaberise.tripod.com/id12.html|accessdate=12 November 2021|website=kanunilaberise.tripod.com|language=sq}}</ref> According to some historical sources, the government of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] empire had to recognize autonomous customary laws to the various local communities for their self-administration. In this context, during different periods, Albanian customary laws were implemented in parallel with [[Roman law|Roman]], [[Byzantine law|Byzantine]], [[Canon law|Ecclesiastic]], and subsequently [[Sharia]] and [[Ottoman law|Ottoman]] laws.{{sfn|Rushani|1997|pp=137–140}}<ref name="Elezi"/> This helped the Albanian mountain tribes to preserve their way of life, identity, and neutrality in the face of external centralizing administration.{{sfn|Trnavci|2010|p=205}}

== In Judaism ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Halakha]] -->
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2021}}
{{main|Oral Torah}}
[[Rabbinic Judaism]] maintains that the books of the [[Tanakh]] were transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition, as relayed by God to Moses and from him handed on to the scholarly and other religious leaders of each generation. Thus, in Judaism, the "Written Instruction" (''Torah she-bi-khtav'' תורה שבכתב) comprises the Torah and the rest of the Tanakh; the "Oral Instruction" (''Torah she-be'al peh'' תורה שבעל פה) was ultimately recorded in the [[Talmud]] (lit. "Learning") and [[Midrash]]im (lit. "Interpretations"). The interpretation of the Oral Torah is thus considered as the authoritative reading of the Written Torah. Further, [[Halakha]] (lit. "The Path", frequently translated as "Jewish Law") is based on a written instruction together with an oral instruction. Jewish law and tradition is thus not based on a literal reading of the Tanakh, but on the combined oral and written tradition.

== See also ==
* [[Common law]]
* [[Customary law]]
* [[Hadith]]
* [[Jurisprudence]]
* [[Revelation]]
* [[Uncodified constitution]]

==Citations and notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Finnegan, Ruth H., A Note on Oral Tradition and Historical Evidence, in ''History and Theory'' 10 (1970), 195–201.
* {{Cite book |last=Fortson |first=Benjamin Wynn IV |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bSxHgej4tKMC |title=Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction |date=2010 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |isbn=978-1-4443-5968-8 |edition=2nd |language=en |author-link=Benjamin W. Fortson IV}}
*{{Cite book|title=Memory and Nation Building: From Ancient Times to the Islamic State|last=Galaty|first=Michael L.|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2018|isbn=9780759122628|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SEBiDwAAQBAJ}}
* Goody, J.,  & Watt, I., ? in J. Goody (ed.), ''Literacy in Traditional Societies'' (Cambridge, 1968)
* [http://www.the-jewish-story.org/law.html Story of the Jewish People - The Jewish Law] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105070214/http://www.the-jewish-story.org/law.html |date=2016-11-05 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Lafe|first=Genc|title=On the semantic evolution of Albanian motër 'sister' and vajzë 'girl' in the context of the Albanian extended family|journal=Palaver|volume=10|issue=1|year=2021|pages=75–96|issn=2280-4250|doi=10.1285/i22804250v10i1p75}}
*{{cite book|last=Rushani|first=Mirie|title=La vendetta ed il perdono nella tradizione consuetudinaria albanese|publisher=Religioni e Società|year=1997|pages=137–152|language=it}}
*{{cite journal|last=Tarifa|first=Fatos|title=Of Time, Honor, and Memory: Oral Law in Albania|journal=Oral Tradition|volume=23|issue=1|year=2008|pages=3–14|doi=10.1353/ort.0.0017 |url=https://journal.oraltradition.org/wp-content/uploads/files/articles/23i/02_23.1tarifa.pdf}}
*{{cite book|last= Trnavci|first=Genc|editor-last1=Sellers|editor-first1=Mortimer|editor-last2=Tomaszewski|editor-first2=Tadeusz|title=The Rule of Law in Comparative Perspective|chapter=The Interaction of Customary Law with the Modern Rule of Law in Albania and Kosova|year=2010|publisher=Springer Verlag|isbn=978-90-481-3748-0|pages=201–215|volume=3|series=Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Rx7_KyUp7cC}}

==Further reading==
* Vansina, J., (tr. Wright), ''Oral Tradition:A Study in Historical Methodology'' (London, 1965)
* Vansina, J., ''Oral Tradition as History'' (Wisconsin, 1985)
* Finnegan, Ruth H., ''Oral Poetry: Its Nature, Significance and Social Context'' (Cambridge, 1977)
* [[David Henige|Henige, D.P.]], ''The Chronology of Oral Tradition: Quest for a Chimera'' (Oxford, 1974)
* [[David Henige|Henige, D.P.]], ''Oral Historiography'' (London, 1982)
* Tonkin, Elizabeth, ''Narrating our Pasts: The Social Construction of Oral History'' (Cambridge, 1992).

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[[Category:Legal history]]
[[Category:Religious law]]
[[Category:Oral tradition]]
[[Category:Customary law]]