their head-count rather than the size of their stakes, for his labour in extracting a small portion is no less than his labour in extracting a large one. This is the distilled position of Mālik. It is, however, also reported from him and a number of his companions that the fee should instead be apportioned in proportion to the respective shares.

In the section “Comprehensive Judicial Rulings” under Litigation in the Book of Judicial Procedures, one finds the ruling concerning the heirs’ division of the estate’s debts among the creditors; and in the Book of Testimony, the ruling regarding the testimony of the surveyors (qussām) is set out.

Mālik also said: When a man is holding a deposit (wadīʿa) on behalf of certain people, and the judge orders him to hand it over to them and to have a deed drawn up between the parties, the scribe’s fee for that document is to be borne jointly by him and by them.