The Sources Of Unwritten Law In Malaysia

Law is a body of enacted or customary rules recognized by the community as binding. It is normative in character, capable of change overtime and also carries a sanction or punishment for disobedience. There are three sources of Malaysian Law which are written law, unwritten law and Islamic law.

Malaysian legal system practices parliamentary democracy and headed by Yang di-Pertuan Agong which is the King. The King is elected by the Conference of Rulers to preside and rule the country for a five-year term. The King is selected among the nine states rulers namely from Perak, Kedah, Perlis, Johor, Pahang, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Kelantan. Today’s Constitution of Malaysia clearly states that the separation of power between legislative, judiciary and executive. There are two sources of law in Malaysia which is written and unwritten law. The written law is the most vital source of law and it

Unwritten law means law that is not enacted by the legislature and cannot be found in the written law. Unwritten law consists of Common Law or English Law, Judicial Precedent and Customary Law. Part of the law in Malaysia is formed by the English Law. There are two conditions to apply English Law in Malaysia where there is “lacunae” in the local statues covering the same matters or the law suits the local circumstances. There are two conditions to apply English law in Malaysia. First, there is a lacunae in the local statues covering the same matter and the law suits local circumstances. Judicial precedents is the decisions of the superior courts which is federal court, court of appeal and high court. There are two categories of judicial precedent which is binding and persuasive. In binding, all the decisions of higher courts bind to the lower courts. The high courts are bound by their own decisions. While in persuasive, the High Court judges are not bound to follow the decisions of another High Court