9 Legal and Regulatory Environment
NOR AZMA BINTI RAHLIN
Islamic Law
Sharia means Islamic law based on age-old concepts. Since the early Islamic states of the eighth and ninth centuries, Sharia always existed alongside other normative systems.
Historically, Sharia was interpreted by independent jurists (muftis), based on Islamic scriptural sources and various legal methodologies. In the modern era, statutes inspired by European codes replaced traditional laws in most parts of the Muslim world, with classical Sharia rules retained mainly in personal status laws. These laws were codified by legislative bodies which sought to modernize them without abandoning their foundations in traditional jurisprudence. The Islamic revival of the late 20th century brought along calls by Islamist movements for full implementation of Sharia, including hudud capital punishments, such as stoning, which in some cases resulted in traditionalist legal reform. Some countries with Muslim minorities use Sharia-based laws to regulate banking, economics, inheritance, marriage and other governmental and personal affairs of their Muslim population. The use of Sharia in non-Muslim countries and on non-Muslims is debated.
Socialist law
Socialist law or Soviet law denotes a general type of legal system which has been (and continues to be) used in socialist and formerly socialist states. It is based on the civil law system, with major modifications and additions from Marxist–Leninist ideology. There is controversy as to whether socialist law ever constituted a separate legal system or not.[1] If so, prior to the end of the Cold War, socialist law would be ranked among the major legal systems of the world.
Current list of communist countries
Common Law
Common law is based on the concept of precedence, which requires judges to decide a case based on prior rulings, or, at a minimum, consider the reasoning of prior judges when deciding a case with similar facts. The constraints that precedence imposes on a judge depend on court hierarchy, case relevance, and jurisdiction. As outlined by the Indiana Court System, “When a decision is made by a higher court, the lower courts must follow it. Once a case is decided, it establishes a precedent, or a judicial decision that should be followed when a similar case comes to court. To serve as precedent for a pending case, a prior decision must have almost the same question of law and almost the same facts. If the precedent is from another area, such as another state’s Supreme Court, it can be considered, but it does not have to be followed.” In this way, new decisions can become a legal precedent. A binding precedent is referred to by the Latin phrase stare decisis or “let the decision stand.” Several numbers of countries practiced common law such as England and Wales, in English Canada, and in most states of the United States.
Civil Code
A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property, family, and obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core areas of private law that would otherwise typically be codified in a civil code may instead be codified in a commercial code.
List of national or regional civil codes
Source Adopted from “Application of Sharia by country” by Wikipedia is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 , “Socialist law” by Wikipedia is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 , “Statutory vs. Common Law” by Lumenwaymaker is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 , “List of national or regional civil codes “ by Wikipedia is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
