Business Law

Business Law

Introduction

A legal system is the structure of laws and regulations in the boundaries of a nation that regulates the relations between individuals and the government. The legal framework of Malaysia is based on different types of legal systems. The legal system in Malaysia consists of Common, Islamic and Customary Law. The legal system of Malaysia has surfaced from the period of Malacca Sultanate to the arrival of Islam in the region of Malacca and South East Malaysia, and finally the times of the British colonial rule (Hamzah, 2009). There are two types of law which make up the Malaysian legal system; written and unwritten.

Three Sources of Malaysia Law

Customary Law

Of the Unwritten Law one is the Customary Law. Customs are a significant source of the unwritten law. Malaysia is a diverse society where every race has its own set of customs. For example the Chinese have their own customs, and so the Hindus .In addition to this the locals of Sabah and Sarawak which is linked to the land and family issues.

Of the Written laws, the two laws are:

The Federal and State Constitution

Malaysia is a confederation of 13 states, consisting of a federal one and 13 State Constitution. The federal constitution is the highest law of the country. It can only be amended by a two-thirds majority of the members of the parliament.

Legislation

This links to the laws that are developed by the Parliaments at the central level and by the State Legislative Assemblies at the state level. The Parliament and State Legislatures are not the highest degree of law and so they have to endorse laws issued to the provisions laid out in the Federal and State Constitution.

Doctrine of Judicial Precedent

The Doctrine of Judicial Precedent deals with the significance of case law in the judicial system. It is a term used to describe the lawyer's term for legal practice. There is a tendency of people to not repeat things that have been before. Similarly in law, if some aspect of the law has been applied to a case, it is applied to a future case as well considering that the nature of the problem is the same. Courts that are at the top of the hierarchy have a greater say in the legal application of the law as compared to the lower courts. When the judge has a trial they will check and see if a related situation has arisen previously in front of a court (Sambo & Abdulkadir, 2012, pp.95-108).

The judge may not be able to use the precedent when a situation occurs that there is no precedent to pursue. The judges have to lay down an original precedent that is simply to create a new law according to justice, equality and good principles. In that particular case, the judge makes a new law, and it is called the new precedent. An imperative and unique component of English law is that the thinking and choices considered in going before cases are not essentially thought ...