Article on Succession to Muslim Estates in Singapore

M.B. Hooker (Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society) recently published an article entitled, Succession to Muslim Estates in Singapore: Sources of Law and Choice of Law, Australian Journal of Asian Law, Vol. 15, No. 2, article 5 (2014).  Provided below is the abstract from SSRN:

Succession to Muslim estates in modern Singapore has developed its own peculiar set of technicalities via the AMLA and precedent. Sources of law and, therefore, choices of law are now the issues. The classical fiqh on its own is no longer sufficient. The process of choosing the appropriate law – the ‘Muslim law’ – is determined by four factors. First, although the AMLA does not pretend to reproduce fiqh, it has incorporated it by reference to ‘Muslim law’ but what this actually means depends on statutory interpretation. The statute and its precedent are now the standard form. Second, the classic Arabic fiqh tests are not now the texts of first recourse at appeal level. Even in the first instance Syariah Courts only the Succession Tables are routinely consulted. Third, new forms of property (Central Provident Funds) and special sorts of title to real property (joint tenancies) bring with them their own rules as to ownership, thus displacing any fiqh. Finally, despite the best efforts of the MUIS Legal Committee, classic fiqh via fatāwā has proved to have little if any practical relevance. Succession to Muslim estates, therefore, is now best described as a ‘common law fiqh’.