Article Sharia law isn’t taking over – it’s just colonial legacy continuing (British brewing)

[C C]

But accordingly, [limited] parallel standards still actually seem to be the case. They are just falling out of an already existing approach still lingering from the bygone days of global empire. Now being applied locally to the cultural pluralism of current Britain itself. With the various "sub-ethics" deemed not a threat to undermining the overarching, native system (and no threat of carving the UK into independent communities).
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Sharia law isn’t taking over Britain – it’s an inevitable legacy of its colonial legal history
https://theconversation.com/sharia-law-i...ory-267262

EXCERPTS: Such claims ignore two realities. First, that the English legal system is adaptive and capable of accommodating diversity. And second, that having multiple legal systems is – far from undermining British law – an inevitable legacy of Britain’s colonial history. Looking to that history, it should be no surprise that it is a feature of modern, multicultural Britain.

My research shows how British colonial administrators deliberately designed plural legal systems to sustain imperial rule. The colonial state recognised that it could not rule diverse populations by imposing English law on multicultural societies.

[...] In a postcolonial, multifaith society like Britain, legal pluralism is not a sign of a fragmented legal sovereignty – it’s an acknowledgement of social reality. The persistence of sharia in modern Britain reflects a society still negotiating how to govern cultural and religious difference through law, as the empire once did...

[Syne]

God forbid you require assimilation.

[C C]

Legal pluralism as currently defined is "weak stuff" that does just amount to allowing these communities to have their own casual advisory courts, with those being completely subservient to the national legal system of a country. Femi Owolade's evaluation of it in the context of colonial history might seem to be the odd duck here. But it's not that unusual for today's scholars to engage in analysis that is crouched in something like postcolonialism (the latter's many interpretative outlooks, theories and agendas).

Owolade: "There is no separate sharia legal system in the UK. What exist are sharia councils and the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal. The sharia councils have no statutory authority under English law. They may be used to resolve personal disputes such as marriage, divorce and inheritance. English law is capable of accommodating and regulating diverse legal practices without losing its sovereignty. Besides sharia councils, other faith-based arbitration bodies exist in Britain..."

Sharia law courts in the UK
https://legalpriority.co.uk/legal-advice...-in-the-uk

KEY POINTS:

• Sharia councils act as advisory bodies, not legally binding courts.
  
• Estimates of their presence range from 30 to 85 across England and Wales.
  
• All decisions must comply with UK legislation.
  
• Reduced legal aid has increased reliance on these councils.
  
• Legal Priority provides specialised support on related matters.