Between social change and law

• Main Author: Kamaruddin, Zaleha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Star Publications (M) Bhd. 2011
• Subjects: K Law (General)
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/6252/1/Between_social_change_and_law.mht; http://irep.iium.edu.my/6252/; http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2011/1/11/columnists/ikimviews/7725228&sec=ikimviews

are no easy answers – legal, social, religious or political – to the controversy surrounding the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to a 23-year-old man. WHEN laws are drafted, lawmakers lay down general rules of conduct. They usually have in mind the average citizen over 21 years old. When the judge interprets the law, he usually speaks in terms of the average, reasonable man. Hence, in a world of average, reasonable men, law making is far less complicated. But the world is full of exceptions, and the old adage has reason in it, that the exceptions test the rule. The exception in this context is that Muslim girls below the age of 16 and Muslim men below the age of 18 can marry only with the Syariah Court’s consent. .....