Similarities between Law and Religion
4. Devlin, , The Enforcement of Morals (Maccabean Lecture in Jurisprudence of the British Academy, 1959)Google Scholar. It has been noted that the current debate between utilitarians and moralists is “a copy of that earlier dialogue a century ago between Mill, John Stuart [On Liberty (1859)] Google Scholar and M. Stephen, Justice James Fitzjames [Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1873)]”. Law and Morality – A Reader 1 (1976)Google Scholar. The East Asian legal tradition reflects a unique blend of secular and religious influences. Japan was the first country to begin modernizing its Western-style legal system by importing parts of French, but especially the German Civil Code. This partly reflected Germany`s status as a rising power in the late nineteenth century. Similarly, in the last years of the Ch`ing dynasty, traditional Chinese law gave way to westernization in the form of six private law systems based primarily on the Japanese model of German law.
Today, Taiwanese law has the closest affinity with the codifications of this period, due to the split between Chiang Kai-shek`s nationalists, who took refuge there, and Mao Zedong`s communists, who took control of the mainland in 1949. The current legal infrastructure of the People`s Republic of China has been heavily influenced by Soviet socialist law, which essentially inflates administrative law to the detriment of private law rights. Today, however, due to rapid industrialization, China has reformed, at least in terms of economic (if not social and political) rights. A new treaty code in 1999 meant a departure from administrative dominance. Moreover, after fifteen years of negotiations, China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. If a guardian changes religion, he or she cannot act as a guardian for the minor. The Islamic religion offers a set of beliefs that determine how one should live as a Muslim. In addition, they provide a special means of reasoning and adherence to appropriate moral values. In addition, the law limits the power of secular leaders and religious power by regulating the actions of rulers to subjects and providing a self-enforcement mechanism that guarantees its independence. Sharia law acts as a source of moral reasoning that is crucial to reviving movements in society in terms of charitable work, religious teachings, political reform, and personal change. The correlation between religion and law shown above suggests that state law borrows many elements from religion.
In addition, court decisions take into account a number of factors, so courts cannot be considered philosophically neutral institutions (Brown, 2013). General aspects that contribute to the existence of the relationship between law, morality and religion Recently, there has been a controversial question about the interaction between law and religion. It was necessitated by the essential role that religion plays in contemporary socio-political and legal systems. According to Doe (2011), religion influences a number of societal factors and each individual in the community has a certain set of beliefs of their own. There have been debates about the future of Islamic law in the current environment, where there is a lot of interaction between different people. For example, the Islamic Center, located in Ground Zero, New York, has banned the wearing of burqas and headscarves in its districts (Doe, 2011). Such a police force has caused great public discontent among people who do not subscribe to this particular religion. The conflict between law and religion led people to focus on the place of religion in the movements of Hindi civilization and ancient Roman legal systems. Under the Hindu Marriage Act 1956, the other party has the right to divorce if one of the spouses converts to another religion. Hindu law is primarily a law that regulates Hindus.
It is based on ancient customs and a secular law called Dharma. Ancient sources The ancient sources are Sruti, Smrits, Commentaries and Digests, Sadachara or custom and doctrine of the valet factum. Shruti: The Srutis are considered to be of divine origin from the Vedas. Sruti literally means “That which was heard by the Magi” in a revelation of God that includes the four Vedas (by the sage Vyas), namely Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana Vedas, the six Vetangas and the Upanishads. The time of the Vedas is estimated at 4000-1000 BC. The Vedas are revelations of the Almighty. These Vedas contained virtually no laws; They deal with various forms of marriage, adoption, division and exclusion of women from inheritance. Smritis: It means “What you remember.” This is what was reported by the sages in their own words, from what they had heard from God. Smritis is classified as primary smirities and dharmastras, which are important sources of law.
Among the Smritis, Naradha Smritis and Manu Smriti are very important. All these smritis deal with civil and criminal law, matrimonial law and procedural law. Besides the Vedas, the Smritis are the most important source of Hindu law. The early Smritis were called Dharma Sutras, which were mainly in prose form. The later Smritis were called Dharma Shastras, which are more systematic exposures than the Dharma Sutras. The oldest Smriti is the Manu Smriti. The manu smriti deals with 18 titles in civil and criminal law, matrimonial law and procedural law. The Yagnavalkya smriti (contains 1010 Slokas) provides that the king was subject to the law. The other smrites are the Narada smriti and Brihaspati smriti, which deal with legal matters. Narada smriti recognized the power of kings to make laws.
Comments and summaries: As the Smritis did not agree with each other, they gave rise to comments that are otherwise referred to as “Nibandhas”. They were written between 700 and 1700 AD. Yagnavalkia smriti is commented on by Vigneswara, which later became the Mitakshara school of Hindu law. The same Smriti was also commented on by Jimutuvahana, which later became the Dayabhaga school of Hindu law.
