Overview

This book is an anthropologist's field study of the new court set up in Singapore to deal with matrimonial suits (chiefly divorce) among Muslims. The study is based on careful observation of the court in action, and analyses in detail the relationship between the reformist aims of the new law and the values and expectations of litigants. The book takes its departure from the argument developed in Dr Djamour's earlier work, Malay Kinship and Mamage in Singapore (Athlone Press, 1959; paperback edition 1965), and discusses the effect of recent attempts to promote the stability of Muslim marriage. Social scientists, lawyers, students of Islam, and those interested in Malayan problems will find in this book the same qualities that distinguished Dr Djamour's previous study -- lively and sympathetic descriptive powers joined to an ability for clear factual analysis.