Sharia Law in England

On Real Clear Politics, Cal Thomas writes that the Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips of the United Kingdom has ruled that “Those entering into a contractual agreement can agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law.” And that includes the Islamic legal principles of Sharia. Lord Phillips said that Islamic legal principles were acceptable as long as punishments and divorce rulings comply with English law, but, Thomas points out, “Sharia law does not comply with English law. It is a law unto itself.”

Thomas also gives some details as to what the application of Sharia might look like in Britain:

Here are just some of the “benefits” British Muslim women can look forward to if Sharia law replaces English law: The Muslim woman cannot marry without parental approval, worsening the problem of forced marriage; marriages can be conducted without the presence of a bride, as long as the guardian consents, creating a climate for underage and early marriage; Muslim women may only marry Muslim men.

It gets worse. A Muslim man can divorce his wife by repudiating her; they have no obligation to support a former wife, or her children after the divorce; women are prohibited from divorcing husbands without his consent; abuse is not grounds for a woman to end a marriage; in matters of inheritance, sons are entitled to twice as much of an estate as daughters.

In America, Thomas continues, we are fortunate to have a better legal precedent than Lord Phillips’:

Maryland’s Court of Appeals recently denied a Sharia divorce to a Pakistani man. The man’s wife of 20 years had filed for divorce. To circumvent having to share their $2 million estate and other marital assets, he went to the Pakistani embassy and applied for an Islamic divorce. The man wanted to invoke what is known as talaq, in which the husband says, “I divorce you” three times and it’s done.

The Maryland court said, “If we were to affirm the use of talaq, controlled as it is by the husband, a wife, a resident of this state, would never be able to consummate a divorce action filed by her in which she seeks a division of marital property” and the talaq “directly deprives the wife of the due process she is entitled to when she initiates divorce litigation. The lack and deprivation of due process is itself contrary to (Maryland’s) public policy.”

This year we’ve already seen the uproar following the Archbishop of Canterbury’s remarks on the use of Sharia, so it’ll be interesting to see what the reaction is to Lord Phillips’ decision.