Can Sharia Law function in Britain?
It probably already is to some extent. People instantly think of amptutations and stonings when they think of Sharia. But Sharia is also about much more mundane civil matters, like loans, interest, mortgages, rescission, restitution etc. Civil law in England has always taken the position that two people involved in a civil dispute can settle the matter any way they wish (except a duel to the death!) and abide by the result. This means you and I could ask our nan to decide how to settle a dispute between us, and agree to be bound by the decision (the decision would only be binding on us, not on the rest of the country, only courts can tell us what the law is). But it means we could also if we so wished ask an imam to settle the matter, or someone with knowledge of Sharia. So it has probably been deciding matters between muslims for a very long time. In fact there is an academic argument that the Crusades brought something back to England which we adopted, Sharia, and that it is now the
