Surely there is no legal weight for the Sharia courts so how is some cleric able to grant "divorces" etc? This is UK! Should the authorities stop this silly religious posturing?
Their judgements carry as much weight as the Jewish courts which operate in the UK. If a Jewish woman is divorced in 'our courts' she still isn't considered so if she hasn't also a religious divorce.
You'd be considered an outcast if you went against the religious authority. It's not right, but that's the way it is.
These courts do carry full legal weight under the Arbitration Act 1996. However certain aspects such as divorce must also go through the British legal process.
Beth Din, the Orthodox Jewish judgements have been practised here for over a hundred years. They keep trival disputes from clogging up the established legal system. Their judgements carry no legal weight, but because both parties in a dispute have agreed to a settlement by a religious arbitrator, then the judgements tend yo be binding.
jewish and Muslim customs are greatly similar. Beth Din has not undermined the law of the land, and Sharia won't either.
Sharia marriage isn't legal marriage in the UK. If it's not even legal then why not? If these ladies are only married to someone under Sharia law they can just walk away and marry someone legally in the UK in a registry office. Though that's probably not what they are wanting. I feel so sorry for the women featured, they should be made aware both before and once married it is not legally binding in the UK therefore they don't get benefits e.g half the house etc etc.
Yes, chrisgel, and the child marriages constitute a conspiracy to commit a sexual offence, so what's the problem ?
The Arbitration Act has been mentioned; more interesting is whether Sharia courts, in matters which they are allowed to arbitrate, follow the provision of the Arbitration Act that parties must have equal rights before the tribunal and allowed equal opportunity to present their case.
Fred - My problem is that there doesn't seem to be any oversight on these courts. Just recently there was a report of an official (Don't know what their titles are) of a sharia court who had told a family that they would perform a marriage ceremony between a man and an underage girl but that they should keep it to themselves or he could get in trouble.
At least the official knew that what was proposed could get all, bar the girl involved, jailed ! That's the risk, and that's the deterrent. We have to hope that no police or prosecuting authority would shy away, in the face of available, admissible, evidence, from prosecuting because of 'religious or racial sensitivities', as happened in some child -grooming and assault cases.
As has been mentioned the "users" of these courts are not treated equally. Women in the Muslim world are treated substantially less favourably than men and in a way that would not be tolerated in the official justice system. The courts are subject to no independent oversight or regulation and simply should not be allowed to exist. Far from dealing with only "trivial matters which would clog up the courts" they deal with serious family matters and ther is no doubt that, as with many other aspects of Islam, women are being badly treated.
I cannot imagine how they would be tolerated in any other society. Could you imagine if the CofE set up divorce courts which made decisions which went contrary to the law of the land, and where women were "encouraged" to take their divorce instead of clogging up the proper courts. They would not last five minutes so quite why these abominations are allowed to operate (unless, as has been mentioned, it is to avoid offending Muslim sensitivities) is quite beyond me.
If English courts are not connected to religion, why do witnesses swear to God when they give evidence, and the motto on the crest in the court rooms is Dieu Et Mon Droit.