TIMESONLINE: Muslim communities should have the right to decide their own disputes provided they are subject to our laws, one of Britain's most senior legal figures has said.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, who has recently stepped down as senior law lord, said he could see "no reason" why a devout Muslim, provided he or she was "acting voluntarily and without coercion", should not choose to submit a family dispute to a Muslim cleric.
That would be no different from a Jewish family submitting their dispute to be decided by a Rabbi or a Christian to a Church of England to an Anglican priest or marriage counsellor, he said.
But Lord Bingham, addressing the annual Bar Conference in London, made clear that there could be "no question" of any decision not being subject to the law of the country; nor of those involved forfeiting their rights to go to a court of law, he said.
He also emphasised that any such decision to have a dispute handled in this way as is already happening with Sharia councils in certain communities would have to be entirely voluntary. >>> Frances Gibb, Legal Editor | November 3, 2008
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