Since the publication of legal scholar John Makdisi’s ‘The Islamic Origins of the Common Law’ in the North Carolina Law Review, there has been controversy over whether English common law was inspired by medieval Islamic law.

The following article from Wikipedia suggests that the presumption of innocence, which was introduced to Europe by Louis IX of France soon after he returned from Palestine during the Crusades, was based on the presumption of innocence from its beginning, as declared by the caliph Umar in the 7th century. Read the portion under the heading ‘Law’.

Professor John A. Makdisi concludes in his article in North Carolina Law Review, in June 1999:

“The Islamic legal system was far superior to the primitive legal system of England before the birth of the common law. It was natural for the more primitive system to look to the more sophisticated one as it developed three institutions that played a major role in creating the common law. The action of debt, the assize of novel disseisin, and trial by jury introduced mechanisms for a more rational, sophisticated legal process that existed only in Islamic law at that time. Furthermore, the study of the characteristics of the function and structure of Islamic law demonstrates its remarkable kinship with the common law in contrast to the civil law. Finally, one cannot forget the opportunity for the transplant of these mechanisms from Islam through Sicily to Norman England in the twelfth century.”

Read more on Shariah and Secular Law in the Al-Islam eGazette