The Financial Sharia as Law and as Ethics: A Suggestion

In this paper I suggest that it is worth considering an approach based on separating the legal aspects of the Financial Sharia from its ethics, or at least using those aspects in a more flexible way

Limited Liability and Islamic Law

This paper is concerned with some legal issues underlying limited liability and Islamic law, together with some thoughts concerning possible lessons to be learned from the development of limited liability in the United Kingdom and France

Dispute Resolution and Insolvency in Islamic Finance: Problems and Solutions -Workshop 19 September 2013: Report of Proceedings

It is a truism that Islamic finance is based on the Sharia. However, neither the Sharia nor Islamic finance has its own legal system, so the application and enforcement of Islamic finance depends on the secular law of nation states. A particularly important aspect of this situation is that disputes have to be adjudicated through a national system, which usually means the secular courts. The results of some recent cases resolved in this way have led to a considerable degree of controversy. For example, some commentators have criticised the English courts for refusing to adjudicate Sharia issues, while others have criticised the Malaysian courts for doing just that. Other solutions have been proposed, such as arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, in order to sidestep the problems associated with courtbased methods. In like manner, Islamic finance transactions may also have to exist and operate within the context of conventional insolvency laws, which were not designed for Islamic finance and had not been developed with Islamic finance in mind. In this workshop we considered the dispute resolution issue by looking at the general background to the problem, the situation in England, Malaysia and arbitration/ADR. On the question of the impact and relevance of the insolvency regime in relation to Islamic finance, the Singaporean insolvency regime was examined. Some potential solutions were also explored and examined

Moving Forward in the Study and Practice of Islamic Finance: Makhlouf’s L’émergence d’un droit international de la finance islamique : Origines, formation et integration en droit français

In this lecture, delivered at the celebration of the publication of Dr Makhlouf’s book, I claim that it makes a significant contribution towards establishing the foundations of the Law of Islamic Finance as a specialist sub-field of Islamic finance, and that it therefore makes a significant contribution towards the making of further progress in the study and practice of Islamic finance generally. It does this mainly by filling significant gaps in a largely unsatisfactory body of literature on the Law of Islamic Finance. It also makes all the benefits of the book available to the francophone world, provides access for that world to an entire body of anglophone scholarship, and lays the foundations for a ‘doctrinal substrate’ of the Law of Islamic Finance in France

Physical activity and environment programme guidance : fieldwork report

This quick reference guide presents the recommendations on &lsquo;Promoting and creating built or natural environments that encourage and support physical activity&rsquo;. It is for NHS and other professionals who have a direct or indirect role in &ndash; and responsibility for &ndash; the built or natural environment. This includes those working in local authorities and the education, community, voluntary and private sectors. It may also be of interest to members of the public. The guidance offers the first national, evidence-based recommendations on how to improve the physical environment to encourage physical activity. It demonstrates the importance of such improvements and the need to evaluate how they impact on the public&rsquo;s health.<br /

Education Interrupted: The Growing Use of Suspensions in New York City's Public Schools

The New York Civil Liberties Union analyzed 10 years of discipline data from New York City schools, and found that:*The total number of suspensions in New York City grew at an alarming rate over the last decade: One out of every 14 students was suspended in 2008-2009; in 1999-2000 it was one in 25. In 2008-2009, this added up to more than 73,000 suspensions.*Students with disabilities are four times more likely to be suspended than students without disabilities.*Black students, who comprise 33 percent of the student body, served 53 percent of suspensions over the past 10 years. *Black students with disabilities represent more than 50 percent of suspended students with disabilities.*Black students also served longer suspensions on average and were more likely to be suspended for subjective misconduct, like profanity and insubordination.*Suspensions are becoming longer: More than 20 percent of suspensions lasted more than one week in 2008-2009, compared to 14 percent in 1999-2000. The average length of a long-term suspension is five weeks (25 school days).*Between 2001 and 2010, the number of infractions listed in the schools' Discipline Code increased by 49 percent. During that same period, the number of zero tolerance infractions, which mandate a suspension regardless of the individual facts of the incident, increased by 200 percent.*Thirty percent of suspensions occur during March and June of each school year

Some Concepts and Related Terms for the Analysis of the Law of Islamic Finance

As Islamic Finance matures, it needs more specialisation. The study of its legal aspects is one facet of this specialisation. In order to move forward, we need a set of concepts and related terms in order to facilitate clear analysis. This short note contains some suggestions in this regard