ONLY English law is suitable for application in Malaysia under the prevailing situation, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said this included instances where there were lacuna or absence of local laws for application in disputed matters.
“Abolishment of the use of English common law or doctrine of equity through the Civil Law Act 1956 (Act 67) is not an issue or an urgent need,” he said in reply to Nasharudin Mat Isa (PAS-Bachok) who asked when the shackling English common law would be abolished through the Act.
Mohamed Nazri said Section 6 of Act 67 exempted the use of Section Two of English law under Section 3 and 5 of Act 67 on matters related to tenure, conveyancing, assurance or inheritance of immovable property or assets, rights or benefits.
On the criminal procedure code in Malaysia, he said the situation was different as English law was not applied if there was a lacuna as established by the apex court.
On the application of English law in commercial and trade matters in Malaysia, Mohamed Nazri said dependence on the law was limited although Section 5 of Act 67 provided for the application of English commercial law in this country.
“Besides that, efforts to update the commercial law in Malaysia were ongoing through the formulation of such Acts as the Malaysia Deposit Insurance Corporation Act 2005 (Act 642), Electronic Commerce Act 2006 (Act 658), Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (Act 671) and Competition Act 2010 (Act 712).”
He said that based on the current legal framework and case law in Malaysia which had established legal principles that were on par with English law, Malaysia no longer depended on English common law in dealing with legal issues.
“There is no harm if such a provision is retained because in future there may arise the need to use the provision if there is lacuna in the law when the court is to decide on a case,” he said. — Bernama
To a supplementary question from Nasharudin on whether the government planned to introduce Malaysian common law, Mohamed Nazri said it was not possible because there was no culture of keeping records before the country achieved independence.
He said Singapore, India and Australia were among the Commonwealth countries which used English common law. — Bernama