Common Law In Malaysia Case Study

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independence from the British. Several days before the independence day, on 27th of August 1957, the first Federal Constitution of Malaya came into force. Then on the 16th of September 1963, the Constitution of Malaya was modified to fit the eleven states of the Federation of Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah, and the State of Singapore to form the Federation of Malaysia. However, in August 1965, Singapore left this newly-formed federation to become an independent republic. Brunei withdrew at the last minute. The first period in which modern Malaysian law was made was during the decentralization of Malay states (1866-1942) when the pre-war law was made. At that time, the Malay states were divided into three groups of states which are the Straits …show more content…

The Constitutional Monarchy, His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the King) officially presides as the Head of the country. As a colonized country, Malaysia practices plural legal system where there is an existence of multiple legal systems which is the integration of the Customary Law, Islamic Law and Common Law. The national legal system is based mainly and predominantly on the common law tradition. When the British first came to the Malay Peninsula, to Penang in 1786, the common law and rules of equity of England were received together with British administration where common law was introduced to the Straits Settlements through Royal Charters of Justice. The implementation of common law was extended to other states in Malay Peninsula through administrative management and finally replaced the Malay-Muslim law as the basic law of the …show more content…

The Written Law, which is the major law in Malaysian legal system comprises of The Federal Constitution, Legislation and Islamic law. Altogether there are fourteen constitutions which is the Federal Constitution and the thirteen State Constitutions. The Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the federation and it measures the validity of all other laws. Any law inconsistent with the Federal Constitution may be challenged in court. The Federal Constitution embodies British and Indian constitutional concepts and traditional Malay elements. Next, legislation is the law enacted by the legislature and also by bodies or persons authorized by the legislature. The power to enact law is vested in Parliament at federal level and the State Legislative Assembly at the state level. Unlike the Federal Constitution, Parliament and State Legislative Assembly are not supreme. Islamic Law is applicable only to Muslims and is enacted under Federal Constitution. Islamic Law is administered by a separate court system, the Syariah Courts. Syariah Court is the court which enforces the Islamic law relating to marriage, divorce and also family matters based on Quran and Hadith, Fatwa and Ijma Ulama. It is stated by the Federal Constitution that the States have the authority to administer Muslim Law. The State legislature has power over the constitution,