[ms_ann_thrope]

Originally Posted by Caligulette

There are things which should not be taken to mediation, of course- murder being the first one to pop to mind.

Oh yeah. In no way would I support having alternate fora for criminal cases (anyway, there is no way that the state going to seek to have its interests protected anywhere but in its courts). I'm only talking civil suits between private parties.

Originally Posted by JamesBannon

In a Sharia court, of whatever stamp, this is not the case as women have always been held to be male property. There is no possibility of justice in a system like that as we can still see today, even in so-called "civilised" countries. It was only recently, within my lifetime, that women were accorded equal rights in court in the UK. Any move to dilute that would be a step backwards towards the dark ages.

If a woman wants to have her civil claim adjudicated under Sharia law, shouldn't that be her business? And *gasp* isn't is possible that a woman might prefer her outcome under the Sharia forum versus what she might be able to get in secular civil court? I fail to see injustice in allowing consenting parties to opt out of secular civil law in favor of having their conflict decided according to principles of their faith, even if some of those principles might seem anathema to you or me.