From Paper to Webpage: Legislation during the British Regime in Palestine in the Israeli National Legislation Database

Abstract

The editorial team of the Israeli National Legislation Database endeavored to locate all the proclamations, ordinances, and ‘Orders in Council’ published from the beginning of the British military regime in Palestine to the last ‘hidden laws’ published in the waning days of the British Mandate. These documents complete the historical information on Israel state laws and shed light on the initial establishment of the legal and judicial system in Palestine, before the establishment of the State of Israel. In this paper, we describe the development of legislation under British regime, from 1917 to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. We introduce the three figures who played key roles in regulating the legislative system: Orme Bigland Clark, Norman Bentwich, and Sir Robert Harry Drayton, and describe the legislative process that was developed and the legislative procedures that prevailed at the time. The legal framework of this period, alongside the remaining Ottoman legislation, formed a solid basis for the legislative system and process for the Provisional State Council and subsequently, the Knesset.