Israeli law  Israeli law is based mostly on a common law legal system, though it also reflects the diverse history of the territory of the State of Israel throughout the last hundred years (which was at various times prior to independence under Ottoman, then British sovereignty), as well as the legal systems of its major religious communities. The Israeli legal system is based on common law, which also incorporates facets of civil law. The Israeli Declaration of Independence asserted that a formal constitution would be written, though it has been continuously postponed since 1950. Instead, the Basic Laws of Israel (, "ħuqey ha-yesod") function as the country's constitutional laws. Statutes enacted by the Knesset, particularly the Basic Laws, provide a framework which is enriched by political precedent and jurisprudence. Foreign and historical influences on modern-day Israeli law are varied and include the Mecelle (Hebrew: מג'לה; the civil code of the Ottoman Empire) and German civil law, religious law (Jewish Halakha and Muslim Sharia; mostly pertaining in the area of family law), and British common law. The Israeli courts have been influenced in recent years by American Law and Canadian Law and to a lesser extent by Continental Law (mostly from Germany). The modern judicial system in Palestine, later the State of Israel, was established by a British senior judicial officer, Orme Bigland Clarke, who was appointed by General Edmund Allenby in 1918, following the British conquest. The British military administration was replaced with a civilian one which operated under the Constitution of Mandatory Palestine, promulgated through an Order in Council by the British monarch in 1922. Britain, which was given a League of Nations mandate to govern Palestine, implemented the Common Law system, except for the jury system. Legal precedents in torts and contracts were borrowed from England, and certain legal areas were codified in order to assure legal certainty. Thus the Penal Code in Israel was practically the same as those used by the British in India or other colonies and territories. Upon Independence, a Bill of Independence was signed as a manifesto for the new State. While it was drafted as a universal and democratic declaration capturing noble ideas prevalent at the time, it is non-binding, although has occasionally been used as a guiding tool by the courts. With the establishment of the state, English law as it was on the date of independence remained binding, with post-1948 English law developments being persuasive and not binding. This was enabled by the first legislative act of the Provisional State Council, which enacted a reception statute as part of the "Law and Administration Ordinance" published on 19 May 1948, four days following the Declaration of Independence.