Hadith collections functioned as legal casebooks for establishing rules of procedure

Evidence

Another major type of historical writing is that which is devoted to the collection, establishment and recording of precedents. The historian in these instances functions as the compiler of a casebook. This is needed for a variety of reasons, and there are several different kinds of historical writing that are col­ lections of precedents. One type, predominant in the earlier period, is what one might call the Sunna approach, the hfiadı¯th narratives concerning the actions and utterances of the Prophet, followed by narratives of the doings and sayings of the Companions of the Prophet and the early rulers of Islam. The purpose of these was to establish rules of procedure: the Prophet said or did this, therefore this is right and is an example which should be followed. These are what modern lawyers call casebooks, and they pose two problems: how to treat history as law, and how to treat law as history. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1934

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains how Sunna/hadith functioned concretely: not mere records but normative case law — history-as-law.
• XREF: Direct parallel to the Milgrom law-merchant material on private judges and precedents governing trade — precedent as the raw material of legal systems.