Boundaries of Loyalty

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The use of non-Jewish courts: the Tannaitic period; 2. Legislative constraint on testimony: the Amoraic period; 3. Rejected rationales of testimonial restriction: the Gaonic period into the period of the Rishonim; 4. Creation of a duty to testify against fellow Jews in non-Jewish courts in the period of the Rishonim: i.e. under what circumstances could testimony in an honest non-Jewish court be required by Jewish law (and testimony then be permissible even in corrupt non-Jewish courts)?; 5. The tension between responsa and codification: not every good ruling makes a good rule Maharam Mintz, Rabbi Joseph Caro and Rabbi Moshe Isserlis; 6. Further expansion of the duty to testify against fellow Jews in non-Jewish courts in the period of the Acharonim: R. Yaacov Emden; 7. Contemporary attempts to revert to the original law of Rava: expanding the boundaries of loyalty; 8. Conclusion: reflections on loyalty and law; Bibliography; Index.