Dina D'Malchuta Dina

The Law of the Land is the Law

Prepared and Presented by Rabbi Joshua Strulowitz, Congregation Adath

Israel

µRabbi@AdathIsraelsf.org§

What is the source?

1. µ8:10§ So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who
were asking him for a king. µ8:11§ He said, “Here are the policies of the king
who will rule over you: He will conscript your sons and put them in his chariot
forces and in his cavalry; they will run in front of his chariot. µ8:12§ He will
appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, as well as
those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war
and his chariot equipment. µ8:13§ He will take your daughters to be ointment
makers, cooks, and bakers. µ8:14§ He will take your best fields and vineyards
and give them to his own servants. µ8:15§ He will demand a tenth of your
seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators
and his servants. µ8:16§ He will take your male and female servants, as well
as your best cattle and your donkeys, and assign them for his own use.
µ8:17§ He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his
servants. µ8:18§ In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you
have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you in that day.
µ8:19§ But the people refused to heed Samuel’s warning. Instead they said,
“No! There will be a king over us! µ8:20§ We will be like all the other nations.
Our king will judge us and lead us and fight our battles.”

-Samuel 1 10-20

2. This applies to Jewish kings in Israel as well as non-Jewish Kings in foreign

lands.

-Vilna Gaon, Choshen Mishpat 369:34

3. This only applies to legitimate rulers who are accepted by their

constituents as a legitimate government. Otherwise they are like a band of
thieves and and their laws are not considered binding.

1. -Maimonides Laws of Theft and Lost Objects, 5:18

What Areas of Law does this Apply to?

1. Taxes
 Paying taxes is like paying rent. It is the cost you incur for being allowed to
live in a particular country and derive the benefits from living there.

-Ran, Nedarim 28a “B’Muchas”

By living in a particular country you implicitly agree to be obligated in that

countries tax system, even though there is no signed contract.

-Nachmonides (quoted in Maggid Mishnah, ibid.)

Dinei D’Malchutah Dinah obligates a person to proactively pay their taxes,

even if they know that they won’t be caught for failing to report income,
because fair taxation is an obligation that an individual takes upon himself by
living in a country.

-Ramah, Choshen Mishpat 369:6

A person should not shop at a store in which they know the owners are not
paying taxes, because it is lifnei iver (providing the opportunity for others to
sin).

-Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Yeshiva University

Criminal Law

The Beit Din may issue punishments or fines even when not warranted by the
Torah.

-Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 46a

This doesn’t only apply to Jewish courts, but applies to non-Jewish courts as well.

-Ran, ibid.

Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Rabbi Shimon, was a policeman for the Roman
Government. He would arrest Jewish criminals and have them punished based on
circumstantial evidence. His contemporary Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha was angry
at him for “giving over” fellow Jews to the Roman government. Rabbi Eliezer
answered that he was “cleaning out the Jewish vineyard of its thorns”. Rabbi
Yehoshua responded, “let the master of the vineyard clean out its own vineyard”

- Talmud, Bava Meitziah 83b-84a

2. Using Non-Jewish courts

 Dinei D’Malchutah Dinah only applies in monetary cases or criminal cases, not
ritual. For example, secular marriage or divorce does not replace Jewish law or
divorce just because a secular wedding or divorce is legal in that country.

-Sdei Chemed, Vol. 2 pg. 70

Two Jews who have a monetary dispute should use a Jewish court to handle their
dispute so that it can judged based on Torah law. If however the government places
certain controls on the market, even if both parties are Jewish they must follow the
secular law (such as price or rent control).

-Rabbeinu Yonah, quoted in Rashba Gittin 10b

However, if both parties are Jewish and they implicitly or explicitly agree to
handle all disputes based on secular law, then that condition is binding.

- Shach, C.M. 73:sub section 39