ABSTRACT
The legal system of the territories is composed of two tiers. The first one comprises military legislation, called "security enactments.” It subordinates the second tier, which includes the laws that were in force in the region before the beginning of the occupation. The Israeli Manual for the Military Advocate in Military Government instructs the authorities on how to make laws. There are issues of form, according to which every enactment should be translated in to Arabic, carry a consecutive number, and be published in an official series available to everyone. Moreover, despite the manual‘s guidelines, only the orders of the military commander of the area carry consecutive numbers which make it possible to keep track of them. The military authorities do not, as a rule, act without legal authorization. The military lawmaker has, accordingly, been very prolific. By October 1988, 1,256 orders had been promulgated in the West Bank.
