Shari'ah and religious arbitration in english courts

There is an emerging paradigm shift in English courts’ attitude towards Islamic law principles from cheer hostility in the colonial era towards modern convergence in the birthplace of common law. This situation might be a result of the heterogeneous nature of contemporary British societies, with its growing immigrant and religious communities, and their quest for an effective dispute resolution mechanism suitable for their religion and satisfy their cultural sensitivities. This paper seeks to examine English courts’ general attitude towards religious courts and tribunals, particularly the current state of convergence between common law and Shari’ah in England and Wales. The role of the UK Arbitration Act 1996 and English case law in regulating religious arbitration and the natural convergence established in recent years in England is also analysed. The paper finds that developments in recent years, including the proliferation of Muslim Tribunals in England, have heralded a new theory of convergence of Shari’ah law and common law in the aspect of Family Law and Marriage in contemporary English courts. These developments have contributed to reshaping the evolution and relationship between these two major world Legal systems