UZAN

UZAN, family of North African origin. SOLOMON (d. 1812. was dayyan in the town of Sousse, tunisia . His family settled in Tunis, where many of its members became distinguished lawyers and physicians. In 1886 MICHAEL (d. 1813. was appointed head of Tunisian Jewry and given the title of caʿid. His grandson, also named MICHAEL (1881–?), was a chemist and agronomist as well as a diplomat and a philanthropist. VICTOR (1863–?), scholar and linguist, translated the poetry of several French poets into Hebrew. In 1885, together with M. Castro, he established a press in Tunis which published literary works in Judeo-Arabic. His recommendations on the personal status and the matrimonial law of the Jews were accepted by the courts of appeal of France and Tunisia. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Lambert, Choses et gens de Tunisie (1912), 417; Livre d'Or de Tunisie (1932), 182–3. (David Corcos)