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Law in The Kibbutz: A Reappraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2024

Allan E. Shapiro
Allan E. Shapiro*
Affiliation:
University of Haifa
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The relationship between social structure and the development of legal institutions is the central theme in the classic study-by Richard Schwartz, now more than two decades old, “Social Factors in the Development of Legal Control: A Case Study of Two Israeli Settlements” (1954). The article is based on an examination of the systems of control developed in two rural communities, one a kibbutz (or kvutza), based on social and economic collectivism; the other a moshav, a cooperative settlement with private property and social life geared to the nuclear family. Internal controls in both communities were exercised through a General Assembly, composed of all members, and by a number of specialized committees. In contrast to the moshav, which had a Judicial Committee performing an adjudicatory function, Schwartz found that the kibbutz “had no distinctly legal institution” and that its control system “must be considered informal rather than legal” since public opinion constituted its sole sanction (Schwartz, 1954: 471,476).

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , Spring 1976 , pp. 415 - 438
Copyright
Copyright © 1976 The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

*

I would like to acknowledge the helpful comments and patient assistance of Richard Abel and Marc Galanter. Special thanks go to Shmariyahu Bar-hon, veteran member and archivist of Degania Aleph, for making available the treasury of source material on which this essay is based. Veteran members of the kibbutz have given freely of their time in helping to fill the gaps in the written record. Interpretations of the case material presented are, of course, the sole responsibility of the author.

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