David C. Flatto, Professor of Law and of Jewish Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is a scholar of Jewish law and philosophy as well as comparative constitutional law and jurisprudence.
Thanks to the publication of this panoramic work, future scholars
have a wealth of writing to consult in separating out the strands
of thought in early Jewish imagination regarding legal-political
philosophy. -- David Nimmer * Journal of the Church and State *
A work of consummate scholarship. It is essential reading for
anyone wanting to know about the origins and nature of the
separation of powers-a fundamental doctrine of modern
constitutionalism, especially in the United States...Flatto
demonstrates that the modern doctrine of separation of powers
originated in certain biblical texts. -- Arthur J. Jacobson *
Journal of Law and Religion *
Was Josephus doing constitutional theory when he claimed that
ancient Israel was a unique, theocratic polity, ruled by God and
his laws, not men? This rich and provocative book deploys skillful
close readings to argue that Josephus, the rabbis, and other
important post-biblical Jewish thinkers made distinctive
contributions to constitutional thought, developing an original
account of separated powers. Flatto's book should be read as a
prequel to Eric Nelson's scholarship showing how early modern
Western political thought received rabbinic ideas. -- Noah Feldman,
author of Arab Winter: A Tragedy
Should justice be administered independently of political
authority? Through detailed consideration of a wide range of
ancient Jewish texts, David Flatto adds a necessary and relevant
new dimension to current thinking about the separation of powers,
the independence of the judiciary, and the rule of law. -- Timothy
D. Lytton, author of Kosher: Private Regulation in the Age of
Industrial Food
The Crown and the Courts offers us a learned and cogent
analysis of the ways in which biblical and post-biblical Jewish
sources sought to establish the independence of law from various
forms of political authority. Flatto's book is an important
addition to the growing literature on rabbinic legal and political
ideas. -- Eric Nelson, author of The Theology of
Liberalism
[Flatto's] work will inspire some new directions in historical
studies of the eras in question. His excellent readings, of
Josephus and the tannaim in particular, are welcome additions to
the scholarship on both. -- Natalie Dohrmann * Dead Sea Discoveries
*
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