In Maimonides and the Merchants, Mark R. Cohen reveals the extent of pragmatic revisions to the halakha, or body of Jewish law, introduced by Moses Maimonides in his Mishneh Torah, the comprehensive legal code he compiled in the late twelfth century.

Notes and Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1. Codification and Legal Change
Chapter 2. Halakha and the Custom of the Merchants
Chapter 3. Updating the Halakha
Chapter 4. Partnership
Chapter 5. Commercial Agency (Suhba)
Chapter 6. Suhba-Agency in the Code
Chapter 7. Proxy Legal Agency
Chapter 8. Sale and Contract
Chapter 9. Judicial Autonomy
Conclusion. Legal Change and Originality
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Acknowledgments

Mark R. Cohen is Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East, Emeritus, and Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus, Princeton University. He is author of Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt and Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages.