ABSTRACT
The fact that Muslim courts allowed such transactions to take place should not come as a surprise. First, native courts were placed under colonial control; second. during situations of crises individuals (natives or French) seek to maximize their gains and cut their losses, or simply survive by all means necessary. Women were the weakest link in the chain of colonial domination. Even in cases where Muslim courts ruled in favor of women, colonial justice prevailed. For example, in a litigation over the administration of property placed in trust for her son, a widow, Khadidja Bent Uthman Khoclja from Constantine, took her case to a special Muslim court, or /1latijIis, that gave her the custody of her son (and her property). However, the order was overturned by a French court in favor of her opponent, who sought to have access to the property . .lR This case dramatizes the situation of women, caught bct\vcen the whims and demands, sometimes overlapping and sometimes contradictory, of Algerian and French men.
