CC Jordan

[Amr Gharbeia <amr AT gharbeia.net>]

On Wednesday 25 February 2009 11:37:01 Stephanie Raye Safi wrote:

> (2) The term common in Arabic have a meaning of مشترك while the word مشاع
> imply commonalty.
>
> The problem with using  مشاع is that the word is linked to land and real
> estate. Whereas the word مشترك is a much more general term in terms of its
> usage.
>
> Furthermore, the word  مشترك is less connected to real estate and property
> and therefore is less likely to cause confusion among the average Arabic
> user/reader.

Actually, the Commons in Creative Commons is meant to sound like the concept 
of Commons in Common Law. These are resources available for common people to 
use, and do not fall under any enclosures. The resources may be water, 
grazing land, or music and textbooks. The resemblance is intentional in the 
English, and is good to have in Arabic as well.

Furthermore, it seems there is a historical relation between Commons and 
مشاع. 
According to John Makdisi of St Thomas School of Law, Miami, FL, the Common 
Law is based in a lot of its concepts (Analogy, Precedence, Trial by Jury, 
Contracts, Commons, Limited Partnership, Agency, Trust...) on the Maliki 
school of Islamic jurisprudence. In all cases, the similarity is striking, 
and Maliki jurisprudence calls it مشاع. The Arabic word is a legal term in 
Islamic Sharia. I do not know about Jordan, but in Egypt, this means that the 
courts have more reason to understand the license if it is called المشاع 
الإبداعي.

> (3)Finally as we are about to introduce a new legal concept to the Arab
> market it is advisable to choose as much possible a neutral term such as
> مشترك.

Given the relation above, it is not exactly a new legal concept.

Then again, what do modern legal books call Common Law? Anyone?

-- 
Amr Gharbeia
http://gharbeia.net