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Malldivian Legal System

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Submitted By nooshi
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1. Introduction
Maldives is an island nation in the Indian Ocean neighboring countries are India and Sri Lanka. Previously, the country was sultanate under Portuguese and then was British protectorate and obtained independence in 1965. Islam is the state religion and Dhivehi is a local language. English is widely spoken and considered as business language. The country is made up of 1,190 islands in 20 atolls which are spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometer. Only 192 of the islands are inhabited, and 70 percent of those have a population of less than 1,000 people.
The Maldives legal system is based on an admixture of Islamic Law and English common law. English common law greatly influences the civil and commercial laws of the country.
To know more about the country, please visit Commonwealth country profile on Maldives and Commonwealth Governance.
A very informative paper on the history of the country, legal history, court system, and criminal justice system can be found here.
Observation of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Judiciary and Legal System of Maldives can be found here.
2. Legal History of Maldives
When the British came to control most of the areas of the Indian Ocean by the late nineteenth century, the Maldivian Sultan entered into an agreement with the Governor of Ceylon in 1887, which allowed the country to enjoy the status of a protected state without actually becoming a protectorate. The British could control external affairs only and had no authority over the internal affairs of the country. Finally, the country became independent in July 1965.
3. The Constitution
The first written Constitution of Maldives was adopted on 22 December 1932. Since then, there were seven Constitutions and created in years 1932, 1942, 1953, 1954, 1968, 1997 and 2008 in the Maldives. The current Constitution which came into force on 7th October

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