In London’s historic “Inns of Court”, barristers practice law inthe shadow of the distinctive medieval Temple Church. But does Englishlaw really owe a debt to Muslim law?
For some scholars, a historical connection to Islam is a”missing link” that explains why English common law is so differentfrom classical Roman legal systems that hold sway across much of therest of Europe.
It’s a controversial idea. Common law has inspired legalsystems across the world. What’s more, calls for the UK to accommodateIslamic Sharia law have caused public outcry.
The first port of call when looking for an eastern link in the common law is London’s Inns of Court.
NOTE: We believe this piece is a rather lame attempt at placating bruised Muslim sensibilities. –Editor
“You are now leaving London, and entering Jerusalem,” says RobinGriffith-Jones, the Master of the Temple Church, as he walks around itsspectacular rotunda.
The church stands in the heart of the legal district and wasbuilt by the Knights Templar, the fierce order of monks-turned-warriorswho fought Muslim armies in the Crusades.
London’s historic legal district, with its professional classof independent lawyers, has parallels with the way medieval Islamic lawwas organised.
In Sunni Islam there were four great schools of legal theory,which were often housed in “madrassas” around mosques. Scholars debatedeach other on obscure points of law, in much the same way as Englishbarristers do.
There is a theory that the Templars modelled the Inns of Courton Muslim ideas. But Mr Griffith-Jones suggests it is pretty unlikelythe Templars imported the madrassa system to England. They weresuppressed after 1314 – yet lawyers only started congregating in theInns of Court after the 1360s.
Perpetual endowment
This doesn’t necessarily rule out the Templars’ role altogether.Medieval Muslim centres of learning were governed under a special legaldevice called the “waqf” under which trustees guaranteed theirindependence.
In an oak-panelled room in Oxford, historian Dr Paul Brandexplains the significance of the 1264 statute that Walter De Mertonused to establish Merton College. He was a businessman with connectionsto the Knights Templar.
The Templar link to Islamic law seems unlikely
The original 1264 document that established Merton has parallelswith the waqf because it is a “perpetual endowment” – a system wheretrustees keep the college running through the ages. It’s been used as atemplate across the Western world.
Dr Brand says many branches of Western learning, from mathematics to philosophy, owe a debt of gratitude to Islamic influence.
Advanced Arabic texts were translated into European languages inthe Middle Ages. But there’s no record of Islamic legal texts beingamong those influencing English lawyers.
And Dr Brand pointed out the Knights Templar were, after all,crusaders. They wanted to fight Muslims, not to learn from them, andthey were rarely close enough to observe their institutions at work.
But the fact remains that England in the Middle Ages had verydistinct legal principles, like jury trial and the notion that”possession is nine tenths of the law”. And there was one other placein Europe that had similar legal principles on the books in the 12thCentury.
Jury trial
From the end of the 9th to the middle of the 11th Century,Sicily had Muslim rulers. Many Sicilians were Muslims and followed theMaliki school of legal thought in Sunni Islam.
Maliki law has certain provisions which resemble English legalprinciples, such as jury trial and land possession. Sicily representeda gateway into western Europe for Islamic ideas but it’s unclear howthese ideas are meant to have travelled to England.
Norman barons first invaded Sicily in 1061 – five years beforeWilliam the Conqueror invaded England. The Norman leaders in Sicilywent on to develop close cultural affinities with the Arabs, and theseNormans were blood relations of Henry II, the English king creditedwith founding the common law.
But does that mean medieval England somehow adopted Muslim legal ideas?
Merton College was founded on principles similar to Islamic law
There is no definitive proof, because very few documents survivefrom the period. All we have is the stories of people like Thomas Brown- an Englishman who was part of the Sicilian government, where he wasknown in Arabic as “Qaid Brun”.
He later returned to England and worked for the king during the period when common law came into being.
There is proof he brought Islamic knowledge back to England,especially in mathematics. But no particular proof he brought legalconcepts.
There are clear parallels between Islamic legal history andEnglish law, but unless new historical evidence comes to light, thelink remains unproven.