Global North, Legal Pluralism and Religion Adjudication: The Relationship between Muslim communities and the State in United Kingdom, Finland and the Netherlands

Abstract

Within the borders of the countries that form the Global North, the links between informal justice and ‘official’

jurisdictional channels have become more intense. Such a situation leads to grappling with the notion of legal pluralism:

in particular, a paramount role is occupied by Sharaitic justice, which is of great relevance to the Islamic communities

spread all over Europe. This patchwork of unofficial courts, guardians of values and customs related to personal status

comes to work far too often in the shadow and parallel with official courts. More precisely, by scrutinising the dynamics

and relationships between religious marriages and civil ones, it is likely to notice the rise, in each country, of various

models of legal pluralism, which switch based on the State’s reply. A first example of this can be found in the British

context, where the debate on the phenomenon of Sharia Councils has been going on for more than a decade. Similarly,

Finland and the Netherlands also faced the emergence of almost identical demands.