The Role of Private Law Rules in Mitigating Collective Harm between Symbolic and Specific Compensation: A Comparative Analytical Study of ISIS Damages against the Yazidis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35246/12q0s074Keywords:
ISIS, Mass Harm, Civil Liability, Symbolic CompensationAbstract
This study places private law at the core of post-conflict justice, treating contract and property as social memory to be restored. From Nineveh—where coercion and registry manipulation marked 2014–2017—we propose an exceptional civil framework that reorders proof and outcomes: a conclusive presumption of duress for transactions made under coercive control, and a period of suspicion that suspends the reliability of entries created then and opens simplified challenges. Where free will is absent, legal effect collapses—and restitution in kind takes precedence over money. Relief moves from paper to an executable restitution program: abatement of interference, handover of the premises with inventories and utilities reconnected within 72 hours, and registry correction with a temporary deal-lock to prevent recycling of harm. Long-running contracts are re-balanced—fair price restored, obligations recalibrated—while an account of profits channels unlawful yields into a neighborhood restoration fund. The toolkit is grounded in Iraqi provisions on specific performance, astreinte-style penalties, and evidentiary weight of official records, reinforced by German/French comparative doctrine and housing-land-property restitution standards. Because the harm is collective, the paper deploys class-style civil tools and technical judicial oversight (GIS, utility records, ecclesiastical ledgers), and proposes a Commission for Real Property Claims – Nineveh (CRPC–Nineveh) issuing fast, enforceable and registrable decisions, powered by a three-track finance (forfeitures, public appropriations, international support). Alongside in-kind restitution, institutionalized symbolic measures (a property memory register, living plaques, an annual trust index) sustain the remedy’s impact. In sum, private law becomes a technology of rebuilding trust: a door reopens, a ledger is corrected, and a neighborhood breathes again.
Downloads
References
First: Books and Research Studies
I. Dr. Nabila Al-Karay Al-Warimi, Acquirer of Real Property, 1st ed., Al-Atrash Publications for Specialized Books, Tunisia, 2015.
II. Dr. Adnan Najm Aboud Al-Badrani, Foundations of the Theory of Unjust Enrichment in Arab-Islamic Heritage, 1st ed., Dar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2008.
III. Dr. Munir Al-Farshishi, Procedures in Real Estate Registration, 1st ed., Publications of Al-Atrash Complex for Specialized Books, Tunisia, 2013.
IV. Malik Jaber Hamidi Al-Khuza’i, “Abuse of Rights Constitutes a Tortious Fault Requiring Compensation for the Resulting Damage,” research published in the Journal of the University of Babylon, College of Law, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2009.
V. Dr. Fouad Saadoun Abdullah, Management of Anonymous Joint-Stock Companies between the Legal Rights of Shareholders and the Dominance of the Board of Directors: Reality and Solutions – A Comparative Study, Dar Umm Al-Kitab, Beirut, 1st ed., 1996.
VI. Dr. Abdel Moneim Farag Al-Sadda, Principles of Law, Dar Al-Nahda Al-Arabiyya, Beirut, Lebanon, 1978.
Second: Laws
I. The Constitution of the Republic of Iraq of 2005.
II. The Real Estate Registration Law No. 43 of 1971, as amended.
III. The Iraqi Enforcement Law No. 45 of 1980, as amended.
IV. The Colombian Victims and Land Restitution Law (Ley 1448/2011).
V. The Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, as amended.
VI. The Spanish Civil Code of 1889.
VII. The German Civil Code of 1900.
VIII. The French Civil Code, as amended in 2016.
IX. The Iraqi Civil Procedure Code No. 83 of 1969.
X. The English Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act of 1995.
XI. Law No. 58 of 2012.
XII. The United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation (General Assembly Resolution 60/147).
Downloads
Published
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright and Licensing:
For all articles published in Journal of Legal Sciences, copyright is retained by the authors. Articles are licensed under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, meaning that anyone may download and read the paper for free. In addition, the article may be reused and quoted provided that the original published version is cited. These conditions allow for maximum use and exposure of the work.
Reproducing Published Material from other Publishers: It is absolutely essential that authors obtain permission to reproduce any published material (figures, schemes, tables or any extract of a text) which does not fall into the public domain, or for which they do not hold the copyright. Permission should be requested by the authors from the copyrightholder (usually the Publisher, please refer to the imprint of the individual publications to identify the copyrightholder).
Permission is required for: Your own works published by other Publishers and for which you did not retain copyright.
Substantial extracts from anyones' works or a series of works.
Use of Tables, Graphs, Charts, Schemes and Artworks if they are unaltered or slightly modified.
Photographs for which you do not hold copyright.
Permission is not required for: Reconstruction of your own table with data already published elsewhere. Please notice that in this case you must cite the source of the data in the form of either "Data from..." or "Adapted from...".
Reasonably short quotes are considered fair use and therefore do not require permission.
Graphs, Charts, Schemes and Artworks that are completely redrawn by the authors and significantly changed beyond recognition do not require permission.
Obtaining Permission
In order to avoid unnecessary delays in the publication process, you should start obtaining permissions as early as possible. If in any doubt about the copyright, apply for permission. Journal of Legal Sciences cannot publish material from other publications without permission.
The copyright holder may give you instructions on the form of acknowledgement to be followed; otherwise follow the style: "Reproduced with permission from [author], [book/journal title]; published by [publisher], [year].' at the end of the caption of the Table, Figure or Scheme.
