The Shamama Case - by Jessica Marglin

About the Book

"In the winter of 1873, Nissim Shamama, a wealthy Jewish merchant from Tunisia, died suddenly in his palazzo in Livorno, Italy. His passing initiated a fierce lawsuit over his large estate. Before Shamama's riches could be disbursed among his aspiring heirs, Italian courts had to decide which law to apply to his estate-a matter that depended on his nationality. Was he an Italian citizen? A subject of the Bey of Tunis? Had he become stateless? Or was his Jewishness also his nationality? Determining to which state he belonged took a decade-long legal battle involving Jews, Muslims, and Christians across the Mediterranean. This book traces the lawsuit as it played out between Tunisia, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire. On its face, the question at the heart of the lawsuit seems simple: to which state did Shamama belong when he died? But the case proved anything but; it took over ten years, hundreds of pages in legal briefs, and thousands of dollars in lawyers' fees before the man's estate could be distributed among his quarrelsome heirs. The book largely follows the chronological unfolding of events, from Shamama's rise to power in Tunis, to his self-imposed exile in France, to his untimely death in Livorno, Italy. Then the focus shifts to the motley crew who dedicated their lives to the Shamama lawsuit: the various heirs who hoped to inherit a part of the merchant's considerable estate; Tunisian government officials; an Algerian Jewish fixer; rabbis in Palestine, Tunisia, and Livorno; and some of Italy's most famous legal minds, especially Pasquale Stanislao Mancini, a towering figure in international law, and his protâegâe and son-in- law, Augusto Pierantoni. Nationality on Trial brings these figures to life by drawing on a broad array of correspondence, legal briefs, contracts, and court rulings in Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, French, Judeo-Arabic, and Ottoman, culled from archives and libraries across the Mediterranean. It tells a tale about individuals whose lives defied the divide separating Europe from the Middle East and the legal systems that insisted on rigid, one-dimensional categorizations of identity. In the process, it reimagines how we think about Jews, the Mediterranean, and belonging in the nineteenth century"--

Book Synopsis

How a nineteenth-century lawsuit over the estate of a wealthy Tunisian Jew shines new light on the history of belonging

In the winter of 1873, Nissim Shamama, a wealthy Jew from Tunisia, died suddenly in his palazzo in Livorno, Italy. His passing initiated a fierce lawsuit over his large estate. Before Shamama's riches could be disbursed among his aspiring heirs, Italian courts had to decide which law to apply to his estate--a matter that depended on his nationality. Was he an Italian citizen? A subject of the Bey of Tunis? Had he become stateless? Or was his Jewishness also his nationality? Tracing a decade-long legal battle involving Jews, Muslims, and Christians from both sides of the Mediterranean, The Shamama Case offers a riveting history of citizenship across regional, cultural, and political borders.

On its face, the crux of the lawsuit seemed simple: To which state did Shamama belong when he died? But the case produced hundreds of pages in legal briefs and thousands of dollars in lawyers' fees before the man's estate could be distributed among his quarrelsome heirs. Jessica Marglin follows the unfolding of events, from Shamama's rise to power in Tunis and his self-imposed exile in France, to his untimely death in Livorno and the clashing visions of nationality advanced during the lawsuit. Marglin brings to life a Dickensian array of individuals involved in the case: family members who hoped to inherit the estate; Tunisian government officials; an Algerian Jewish fixer; rabbis in Palestine, Tunisia, and Livorno; and some of Italy's most famous legal minds.

Drawing from a wealth of correspondence, legal briefs, rabbinic opinions, and court rulings, The Shamama Case reimagines how we think about Jews, the Mediterranean, and belonging in the nineteenth century.

Review Quotes

"Winner of the Albert Hourani Book Award, Middle East Studies Association"

"Co-Winner - Albert Hourani Book Award, Middle East Studies Association"

"Clear and accessible."---Roger S. Kohn, Association of Jewish Libraries

"Winner of the James Willard Hurst Book Prize, Law & Society Association"

"Winner of the Mediterranean Seminar Best Book Prize"

"Absorbing."---Abigail Green, London Review of Books

"Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, History Category"

About the Author

Jessica M. Marglin is associate professor of religion, history, and law and the Ruth Ziegler Early Career Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Across Legal Lines.