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SUMMARY:Muslim Marriage in Western Courts : Lost in Transplantation -  Dr 
 Pascale Fournier (Assistant Professor\, University of Ottawa)
DTSTART:20101123T170000Z
DTEND:20101123T183000Z
UID:TALK27091@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:20235
DESCRIPTION:My presentation seeks to understand the politics of transnatio
 nal Islamic family law in Canada\, the US\, France and Germany\, through t
 he migration of one particular legal institution: Mahr\, “the gift which
  the bridegroom has to give to the bride when the contract of marriage is 
 made and which becomes the property of the wife”. The issue of Mahr typi
 cally presents itself in a crisis-like fashion: married Muslim women\, eng
 aged in religiously structured marriages\, and living in Western liberal s
 tates\, reach out to the secular court upon the dissolution of their marri
 ages to claim the enforcement of Mahr\, presumably because their husbands 
 have previously refused to give them the amount of deferred Mahr. Legal te
 rms and concepts rooted in Islamic family law have thus penetrated these W
 estern legal systems through one of two routes: first\, in accordance with
  international private law rules (conflict of laws)\, which often directly
  incorporate Islamic family law (the case of Germany and France)\; or\, se
 cond\, by way of constitutional interpretation of secular domestic laws (t
 he case of Canada and the United States). The migration of Mahr to Western
  liberal courts unfolds at the crossroads of several doctrinal fields and 
 disciplinary boundaries—contract and family law\, constitutional and Isl
 amic law\, freedom of religion and women’s rights\, public policy and pr
 ivate ordering\, (majoritarian) public order and (minority-based) identity
  politics\, formal and substantive equality. What are the modes of influen
 ce in the selection and imposition processes of Mahr as a comparative inst
 itution? How are the diverse and contradictory conceptual themes around Is
 lamic law and Islamic theory received or brought into Western liberal cour
 ts? Does the reification of religion by courts simultaneously fragment it 
 as rules move across borders? Does the way Mahr travels affect subjectivit
 y\, in both productive and reactive terms?
LOCATION:Senior Common room of the Centre of International Studies (17 Mil
 l Lane\, 1st floor)
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