Islamic Legal Institutions of Contracts and Courts

Abstract

This chapter argues that ownership patterns in Islamic law were highly individualistic and marked by the absence of the European concept of legal person and incorporation. It partly attributes the absence of “legal person and incorporation” in Islamic law to the fact that the individualistic nature of property law in Muslim society is inconsistent with the “collectivistic” nature of the corporation, in which a group of individuals pool their resources. This chapter also discusses in detail the nature of legal decisions and their enforcement in Islamic courts. Legal decisions relied on the oral testimonials of witnesses. As trials were often performed openly in the presence of all parties, social reputation and community pressure remained as important mechanisms both to mitigate the sometimes widely alleged false testimonials and to help ensure subsequent compliance with legal decisions by the parties involved.