UK family courts can accept Sharia law

[Enishi]

UK family courts can accept Sharia law

Family courts can accept sharia law

Bridget Prentice outlined the situation on sharia law to MPs

Decisions reached according to Islamic law can be accepted by English family courts, it has emerged.

Although sharia law officially has no jurisdiction in England, a ruling passed on a separating couple by a sharia council can be submitted to a formal family court.

There, the principles of the sharia judgment, embodied in a consent order, may be rubber-stamped by a judge.

The situation became clear when Justice minister Bridget Prentice told MPs: "If, in a family dispute dealing with money or children, the parties to a judgment in a sharia council wish to have this recognised by English authorities, they are at liberty to draft a consent order embodying the terms of the agreement and submit it to an English court.

"This allows English judges to scrutinise it to ensure that it complies with English legal tenets."

A consent order can deal with the division of money, property, savings and child maintenance, according to the compactlaw.co.uk website.

The court will "rubber-stamp" the order if it decides the agreement reached is fair, and the order will then act as a contract between the couple.

If the court is not happy with the consent order it may ask for more information or for the couple to attend a hearing.

In the written answer to MPs, Ms Prentice stressed: "Any order in a family case is made or approved by a family judge applying English family law."

But Robert Whelan, of the Civitas think tank, told the Daily Mail: "Women who live in some communities may have no option but to go to the sharia court. The case is then rubber-stamped by a family court without any of us knowing how the decision was reached."

[Head Wreck]

i am as discussted as you lot are about this.

what is the whole point in "common law". honestly the people who allowed this have undermined the law of her Madjestys government and Judicial system, and should be charged with treason.

[Destroit]

I'm sorry, and I don't mean to offend anyone here who may be British, but the British government really needs to do what its Austrailian counterpart did and tell these people to fuck off. The people who are moving to Britain should be changing to be BRITISH, not changing Britain to be Muslim. Seriously, English Government: Grow some balls (and let France know that they should do the same).

[Head Wreck]

Hear Hear!

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Shades of things to come.

[Goth Brooks]

The issue of the integration of Muslims into Australian society prompted controversial remarks by some Australian cabinet ministers, such as this exchange between Treasurer Peter Costello and host Tony Jones on the Lateline television news program on 23 August 2005:

TONY JONES: Now, over the past 24 hours you've been repeating the notion that migrants, evidently Islamic migrants, who don't like Australia, or Australian

values, should think of packing up and moving to another country. Is that a fair assessment?

PETER COSTELLO: What I've said is that this is a country, which is founded on a democracy. According to our Constitution, we have a secular state. Our laws are made by the Australian Parliament. If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you. This is not the kind of country where you would feel comfortable if you were opposed to democracy, parliamentary law, independent courts and so I would say to people who don't feel comfortable with those values there might be other countries where they'd feel more comfortable with their own values or beliefs.

TONY JONES: It sounds like you're inviting Muslims who don't want to integrate to go to another country. Is it as simple as that?

PETER COSTELLO: No. I'm saying if you are thinking of coming to Australia, you ought to know what Australian values are.

TONY JONES: But what about if you're already here and you don't want to integrate?

PETER COSTELLO: Well, I'll come to that in a moment. But there are some clerics who have been quoted as saying they recognise two laws. They recognise Australian law and Sharia law. There's only one law in Australia, it's the Australian law. For those coming to Australia, I think we ought to be very clear about that. We expect them to recognise only one law and to observe it.

Now, for those who are born in Australia, I'd make the same point. This is a country which has a Constitution. Under its Constitution, the state is secular. Under its constitution, the law is made by the parliament. Under its Constitution, it's enforced by the judiciary. These are Australian values and they're not going to change and we would expect people, when they come to Australia or if they are born in Australia, to respect those values.

TONY JONES: I take it that if you're a dual citizen and you have the opportunity to leave and you don't like Australian values, you're encouraging them to go away; is that right?

PETER COSTELLO: Well, if you can't agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country which practises it, perhaps then that's a better option.

TONY JONES: But isn't this the sort of thing you hear in pubs, the meaningless populism you hear on talkback radio? Essentially, the argument is if you don't like it here, you should go back home.

PETER COSTELLO: No. Essentially, the argument is Australia expects its citizens to abide by core beliefs — democracy, the rule of law, the independent judiciary, independent liberty. You see, Tony, when you come to Australia and you go to take out Australian citizenship you either swear on oath or make an affirmation that you respect Australia's democracy and its values. That's what we ask of people that come to Australia and if they don't, then it's very clear that this is not the country — if they can't live with them — whose values they can't share. Well, there might be another country where their values can be shared.

TONY JONES: Who exactly are you aiming this at? Are you aiming it at young Muslims who don't want to integrate or are you aiming it at clerics like Sheikh Omran or Abu Bakr both from Melbourne?

PETER COSTELLO: I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that that is false. It's not the situation in Australia. It's not the situation under our Constitution. There's only one law in Australia. It's the law that's made by the Parliament of Australia and enforced by our courts. There's no second law. There's only one law that applies in Australia and Australia expects its citizens to observe it.

Great country!

[The Summarizer]

Hussein.

[TitsMcGee]

I'm sorry, and I don't mean to offend anyone here who may be British, but the British government really needs to do what its Austrailian counterpart did and tell these people to fuck off. The people who are moving to Britain should be changing to be BRITISH, not changing Britain to be Muslim. Seriously, English Government: Grow some balls (and let France know that they should do the same).

+10

I'm really sick of hearing how counties are bending over backwards to accomodate muslims. Yes I understand that relgion is a major part of people lives, but seriously it should NOT be intertwined with the government.

[Rev.Reverence]

+10

I'm really sick of hearing how counties are bending over backwards to accomodate muslims. Yes I understand that relgion is a major part of people lives, but seriously it should NOT be intertwined with the government.

YEAH!

...what about accommodating the rest of Humanity?

[Enishi]

With the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if Islamic culture entirely overran Europe within the next couple decades, with the native populace reduced to the status of dhimmis.

[freydis]

I'm sorry, and I don't mean to offend anyone here who may be British, but the British government really needs to do what its Austrailian counterpart did and tell these people to fuck off. The people who are moving to Britain should be changing to be BRITISH, not changing Britain to be Muslim. Seriously, English Government: Grow some balls (and let France know that they should do the same).

I thought France was the country that told Muslim women they didnt like them wearing headcoverings "because it wasnt French". I might be wrong, but i thought france already told them to fuck off.....

[freydis]

I thought France was the country that told Muslim women they didnt like them wearing headcoverings "because it wasnt French". I might be wrong, but i thought france already told them to fuck off.....

Ah, found it. Chirac had called for banning the hijab in public schools and universities. Can't tell if it ever stuck.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

If memory serves.. that got shot down.