The object of this research is the experience of sharia courts in England. Accordingly, the legal analysis focuses exclusively on English law as the law of England and Wales, for which ‘England/English’ are used as terms of reference.
The term ‘sharia courts’ is used as a geopolitical representation of Islamic Alternative Dispute Resolution institutions that meet a set of criteria. However, the use of this term: does not imply the recognition of the existence of a system of Islamic parallel legal courts; does not affect the formal configuration of the individual institutions, which will be referred to by their technical name; does not replace the terminology used by the various actors who will be mentioned in the course of the book.
The ‘United Kingdom/UK’ is used to refer to the sovereign State – made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
As most studies on Muslims who live beyond the Channel – and related debates – are generally settled in Britain, the common usage on this point is followed. Accordingly, the term ‘Britain’ refers to the wider territorial context and to the socio-political framework which includes England, Wales and Scotland.
The adjective ‘British’ indicates what relates or belongs to the United Kingdom/UK or Britain, and, as a noun, to identify the people of the United Kingdom/UK or Britain.
I have decided not to use the expression ‘British law’, since I consider it to be equivocal, except for verbatim quotations or for those cases in which the term has been used in the debate.