Prompted By The Thread, 'another Step Closer To Sharia Law.'

[sandyRoe]

Imagine a man dies in the UK who had property and 'slaves' in a country, lets say Mauritania as an example, could he bequeath all his property?

[emmie]

why, are you looking to inherit ?

[sandyRoe]

I wouldn't mind the land but I'd give the slaves/bonded servants manumission.

[naomi24]

According to the link given, as long as the beneficiaries aren’t born out of wedlock, unbelievers, or married in churches or in civil ceremonies, his property is his own to do with as he wishes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10716844/Islamic-law-is-adopted-by-British-legal-chiefs.html?fb

[ll_billym]

For the land, this may help: http://www.titleresearch.com/Resources/FAQ---Dealing-with-inheritance-from-abroad

As for the slaves I should think it would be like trying to inherit someone's cocaine stash, theoretically possible but illegal and probably not worth the hassle.

[DTCwordfan]

Lots of sand in Mauritania, sandy.

Surely you wouldn't be allowed to be able to keep them in as slaves in this country, though I could think of one 'subversive' way and that is through Sharia marriage. Normally, this would enable you to take four wives but can be extended to more through 'marriage' to dependent sisters of one's brides, so as to provide their 'welfare.' You wouldn't have to pay for a wifelet.......

[sandyRoe]

The air of England is still too pure for a slave to breath. But if someone here inherited land and the bonded servants who worked it in a foreign country...

[woofgang]

If slave owning was legal, not just "done" but legal in the country where the slaves and the property are, and the will was written to comply with the law of that country, then I think that the bequest would not be relevant to UK law so the legatee could own the slaves in the country where they are, but not bring them to the UK. In some states in the US, pot is now legal. If I was left a stash of pot which was in one of those states, in a will written to comply with US law, then i should be able to go and enjoy my pot in the US, although not take it across the state line to where it is illegal or bring it into the UK.

[jno]

yes, you wouldn't want the will to be proved here. I don't know what happens here to illegal property that turns up; the police probably confiscate it and raffle it off to raise funds for the policemen's ball. One of my OH's ancestors in the Carolinas left his second best slave to a friend, and it was all legal at the time though no doubt if it happened these days someone would be rrotesting on hooman rights grounds. Political correctness gone mad, I calls it.

[DTCwordfan]

I always suspected that your background was dubious, jno.....

[Peter Pedant]

This is nothing to do with Sharia Sandy

I was grooving allong with the free legal site BAILII

and the earliest case I could find was - gues what ?

The wills position of a Jamaican testator who had mentioned slaves in his pre-1833 will and what the position was.
So there is case law on the very subject you mention

I can't remeber what their Lordships found - appeal to the Privy Council from one of the Senior courts of Jamaica

[sandyRoe]

Sharia and the laws of the UK aren't like oil and water as many on the thread 'Another step closer...', might believe. The case law mentioned by PP shows they're more like oil and vinegar and only need careful blending to produce a tasty vinaigrette that would be to the advantage of us all.

[woofgang]

sandy, I don't think that anyone is trying to blend the two (or are you being deliberately provocative?)

[sandyRoe]

Trying a bit of teasing rather than being provocative, Woofgang.