The interaction between law and religion is of academic interest for at least two separate reasons. First, religion remains an important social force, even in those countries that constitutionally hold themselves out as being secular and even in those countries where the majority of the population do not adhere to any institutionalised form of religion. How compelling that social force is varies from country to country, but it is always of some significance. Second, religion is frequently itself a source of law, offering a conceptual challenge to those who see law as being something that is solely state-based. This volume of essays, which looks at law and religion in a variety of countries and continents, provides valuable findings that will add to arguments in both these areas of study.
The focus of the individual essays in the volume takes a variety of forms. Chaudhary's concern is with the tensions that exist in Pakistan, where different legal traditions compete and where, in the author's view, customary law prevails. Foblets, on the other hand, analyzes the provisions of the new Moroccan Family Law Code that apply to Moroccans living in Europe, whilst both Menski and Shah look at the position of religious minorities in Great Britain. Sand considers the history of the codification of personal laws in India. Rosen's interest is in how the new Code of Personal Status in Morocco will be applied. Mehdi looks at how Pakistani Muslims seek supernatural assistance when they take family disputes to the Danish courts. Razak analyzes Canadian Muslim women's responses to attempts by Muslims to use Arbitration Act procedures in relation to family disputes in Ontario. Christofferson moves away from the nation and is interested in the place that religion has in the constitutional and legal structures of the European Union. Petersen's interest is in the changing relationship between religion and law as seen in the work of four painters: Titian, Manet, Onyango, and Mussa. Woodman offers a theoretical analysis of the possible relationship between religious and other forms of law.
The disparate material described above might suggest an incoherent collection. However, notwithstanding the variety of subject matter in the essays, several themes come through. One theme is the difference between official law and law as it is practiced, whether this one is considering religious law or state law. However, a more dominant theme in the volume is pluralism. First, pluralism is usually part of the context in which religion is practiced. Menski's essay charts the way in which new religious minorities in Great Britain have found a path that allows them to live in a way that accords with their religious mores but also fits with the existing state legal culture. Shah's essay dwells on the increasing diversity that is a feature of contemporary British life. Menski and Shah's essays are contributions to understanding how this pluralism works in modernity or postmodernity, as is Foblets' essay on Denmark. However, Sand's essay reminds readers that religious pluralism is not just a modern phenomenon. In India, pluralism is reflected in different personal law codes that have a centuries-long history. Chaudhary's essay takes pluralism a stage further. Even in Pakistan, a country established as a home for the Islamic religion, pluralism, in this case a pluralism resulting from different understandings of Islam, remains important. Regarding Morocco, another form of pluralism becomes crucial when Moroccans immigrate to other countries and are affected by the different cultures that they now live in. Technological advances allow diasporas to retain contact with their countries of origin. This has an impact on both the diasporas and those home countries. Morocco's new family law code for Moroccans living in Europe is in part an attempt to control the pluralism that results. Pluralism also exists at another level. Laws and religions compete for allegiance. Woodman's essay provides a theoretical examination of the ways in which this competition can play out in different states, whilst other essays in the volume examine this problem in individual national settings.
It is perhaps inevitable in a volume of this nature that many of the essays are little more than introductions to the material that they discuss. The reader is sometimes presented with conclusions without the bulk of evidence that is necessary to support the arguments. In some instances it would be interesting to know much more about how evidence was gathered. When the argument is about the deviation between practice and ostensible form, a lot depends upon the detail of the data that are being reported. It is this detail that makes the difference between speculation and scientific observation. Nevertheless, there is much in these essays that is of interest and much that will make the reader want to read more.
