.... The encroachment of Sharia jurisdictions into our civil law should be treated with extreme caution – with gender issues alone a sufficient justification for erring toward a ‘red light’ approach. A unified and integrated society is not generally well-served by competing theories of law attempting to operate in tandem under one jurisdiction. One country must mean one shared body of law, mandated under the Rule of Law and common to all.
To most modern understandings, this would imply gender equality in the law. There are aspects of Sharia law – for example when it comes to marriage, divorce and inheritance rights – that are not compatible with this.
Certain Sharia principles can of course have a very positive role in facilitating commerce – creating a mutually acceptable ‘fit’ between specific financial structures and UK statute – but that is very different to an approach that could allow for half a population (girls and women) to enjoy a less robust defence in law of their basic civic rights, in a touch of the hat to moral relativism.
We should be careful of discarding the principles of good jurisprudence for fear that some people – often, it must be said, with a vested interest in doing so – will claim to be ‘outraged’ at the suggestion. [ConservativeHome] Read more
