Law

=== Religious law ===
{{main|Religious law}}
{{see also|Law and religion}}
Religious law is explicitly based on religious precepts. Examples include the Jewish [[Halakha]] and Islamic [[Sharia]]—both of which translate as the "path to follow". Christian [[canon law]] also survives in some church communities. Often the implication of religion for law is unalterability, because the word of God cannot be amended or legislated against by judges or governments.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ferrari |first1=Silvio |editor1-last=Huxley |editor1-first=Andrew |title=Religion, Law and Tradition: Comparative Studies in Religious Law |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-13250-6 |page=51 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 4: Canon Law as a Religious Legal System |quote=Divine law... is eternal and cannot be changed by any human authority.}}</ref> Nonetheless, most religious jurisdictions rely on further human elaboration to provide for thorough and detailed legal systems. For instance, the [[Quran]] has some law, and it acts as a source of further law through interpretation, ''[[Qiyas]]'' (reasoning by analogy), ''[[Ijma]]'' (consensus) and [[precedent]].{{sfn|Glenn|2000|p=159}} This is mainly contained in a body of law and jurisprudence known as [[Sharia]] and [[Fiqh]] respectively. Another example is the [[Torah]] or [[Old Testament]], in the [[Pentateuch]] or Five Books of Moses. This contains the basic code of Jewish law, which some Israeli communities choose to use. The [[Halakha]] is a code of Jewish law that summarizes some of the Talmud's interpretations.

A number of countries are sharia jurisdictions. [[Israeli law]] allows [[litigant]]s to use religious laws only if they choose. Canon law is only in use by members of the [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|Catholic Church]], the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and the [[Anglican Communion]].

==== Canon law ====
{{main|Canon law}}
[[File:Graverat titelblad till "Kanonisk rätt" - Skoklosters slott - 93238.tif|thumb|The ''[[Corpus Juris Canonici]]'', the fundamental collection of canon law for over 750 years]]

Canon law ({{Lang-grc|κανών|translit=kanon|lit=a straight measuring rod; a [[ruler]]}}) is a set of ordinances and regulations made by [[ecclesiastical jurisdiction|ecclesiastical authority]], for the government of a Christian organisation or church and its members. It is the internal [[ecclesiastical]] law governing the [[Catholic Church]], the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[Oriental Orthodox Churches]], and the individual national churches within the [[Anglican Communion]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Boudinhon |first=Auguste |title=Canon Law |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09056a.htm |year=1910 |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |location=New York |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=9 |access-date=9 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331231326/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09056a.htm |archive-date=31 March 2019}}</ref> The way that such church law is [[legislative power|legislated]], interpreted and at times [[court|adjudicated]] varies widely among these three bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a [[Canon (canon law)|canon]] was originally<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gender in History: Global Perspectives|last=Wiesner-Hanks|first=Merry|publisher=Wiley Blackwell|year=2011|pages=37}}</ref> a rule adopted by a [[church council]]; these canons formed the foundation of canon law.

The Catholic Church has the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the [[western world]],<ref>Raymond Wacks,
''Law: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Ed.'' (Oxford University Press, 2015) pg. 13.</ref><ref name=White>{{cite web |last=Peters |first=Edward |url=http://canonlaw.info |publisher=CanonLaw.info |title=Home Page |access-date=24 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928005444/http://www.canonlaw.info/ |archive-date=28 September 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> predating the evolution of modern European [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]] and common law systems. The [[1983 Code of Canon Law]] governs the [[Latin Church]] ''[[Sui iuris|sui juris]]''. The Eastern Catholic Churches, which developed different disciplines and practices, are governed by the ''[[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]]''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Blessed John Paul II, Ap. Const.|url=https://archive.org/stream/ApostolicConstitutionSacriCanonesJohnPaulIi1990/Sacri_Canones_Apostolic_Constitution_John_Paul_II_1990#page/n7/mode/2up|title=Apostolic Constitution Sacri Canones John Paul II 1990|year=1990|access-date=26 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324090532/https://archive.org/stream/ApostolicConstitutionSacriCanonesJohnPaulIi1990/Sacri_Canones_Apostolic_Constitution_John_Paul_II_1990#page/n7/mode/2up|archive-date=24 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[canon law of the Catholic Church]] influenced the [[common law]] during the medieval period through its preservation of [[Roman law]] doctrine such as the [[presumption of innocence]].<ref>Friedman, Lawrence M., ''American Law: An Introduction'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1984), pg. 70.</ref>{{efn|«In one of his elaborate orations in the United States Senate Mr. Charles Sumner spoke of "the generous presumption of the common law in favor of the innocence of an accused person;" yet it must be admitted that such a presumption cannot be found in Anglo-Saxon law, where sometimes the presumption seems to have been the other way. And in a very recent case in the Supreme Court of the United States, the case of Coffin, 156 U. S. 432, it is pointed out that this presumption was fully established in the Roman law, and was preserved in the canon law.»<ref>William Wirt Howe, ''Studies in the Civil Law, and its Relation to the Law of England and America'' (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1896), pg. 51.</ref>}}

==== Sharia law ====
{{main|Sharia}}
{{see|Sources of Sharia}}
Until the 18th century, Sharia law was practiced throughout the [[Muslim world]] in a non-codified form, with the [[Ottoman Empire]]'s [[Mecelle]] code in the 19th century being a first attempt at [[Codification (law)|codifying]] elements of Sharia law. Since the mid-1940s, efforts have been made, in country after country, to bring Sharia law more into line with modern conditions and conceptions.{{sfn|Anderson|1956|p=43}}{{sfn|Giannoulatos|1975|pp=274–275}} In modern times, the legal systems of many Muslim countries draw upon both civil and common law traditions as well as Islamic law and custom. The constitutions of certain Muslim states, such as Egypt and Afghanistan, recognise Islam as the religion of the state, obliging legislature to adhere to Sharia.{{sfn|Sherif|2005|pp=157–158}} [[Legal system of Saudi Arabia|Saudi Arabia recognises the Quran as its constitution]], and is governed on the basis of Islamic law.<ref>{{cite web |title=Saudi Arabia |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/saudiarabia.htm |publisher=[[JURIST]] |access-date=2 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060830232216/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/saudiarabia.htm |archive-date=30 August 2006}}</ref> Iran has also witnessed a reiteration of Islamic law into [[Legal system of Iran|its legal system]] after 1979.{{sfn|Akhlaghi|2005|p=127}} During the last few decades, one of the fundamental features of the movement of [[Islamic resurgence]] has been the call to restore the Sharia, which has generated a vast amount of literature and affected [[Global politics|world politics]].{{sfn|Hallaq|2005|p=1}}