Customary Law, Islamic Law, and Colonial Authority

Three Contrasting Case Studies and their aftermath

Abstract

The essay describes and analyzes the ways in which in the early decades of the twentieth century three distinct colonial regimes, Dutch, French and British, in three widely separated territories with majority Muslim populations — the Netherlands East Indies, Algeria and India — alike utilised existing juridical and social tensions between customary law (variously, ‘adah, ‘urf) and Islamic law (Shari‘ah) to consolidate their rule. Though still too little examined comparatively, the legal processes and structures thus established have had profound effects on law and its practice in the successor nation states, Indonesia, Algeria and Pakistan.