Thesawalami and Muslim Law of Sri Lanka 1. Thesawalamai, in Tamil, literally mean the customs of the land. 2.

It is ancient in its origin and has prevailed in the North Ceylon 3. Thesavalamai is the traditional law of the Sri Lankan Tamil inhabitants Jaffna peninsula, codified by the Dutch during their colonial rule in 1707. 4. British gave it legal validity by the Tesawala Regulation No 18 of 1806. 5. The Thesawalamai is a collection of the Customs of the Malabar Inhabitants of the Province of Jaffna (collected by Dissawe Isaak) and given full force by the Regulation of 1806. 6. For Thesawalamai to apply to a person it must be established that he is a Tamil inhabitant of the Northern Province. 7. The Law in its present form applies to most Tamils in northern Sri Lanka. 8. The law is personal in nature thus it applicable mostly for property, inheritance and marriage. 9. Thesawalamai is one of the three main customary Laws which are in current operation in Sri Lanka. The other customary laws are the Kandyan Law and the Muslim Law. All three customary laws operate strictly within limited parmeters. The general law of the land apply in all other matters. Thesawalamai always recognized that the criminal law (wherein matters such as capital punishment and rape are dealt with) was the same as is elsewhere in Sri Lanka. 10. Thesawalamai is both territorial and personal in character viz: (i) it is applicable to all lands situated in the Northern Province, whether such land is owned by a Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher; and (ii) it does not attach itself by reason of descent and religion to the whole Tamil population. 11. It is a personal law applicable to the" Malabar (Tamil) inhabitants of the Province of Jaffna". 12. Again, Thesawalamai does not apply to all Jaffna Tamils but only to those Tamil Inhabitants of the Jaffna Province. The word Inhabitant" is of the essence. Rules repaying domicile, as found in International Law, have been developed and applied, mutatis mutandis, to determine as to whether a person is an inhabitant of Jaffna.

1. Muslim Law is one of the special laws which is applicable to inhabitants of Sri Lanka who are Muslims. It is one of the customary laws like Tesawalamai and Kandyan Law which are applicable to particular ethnic groups. 2. It is important to note that Muslim Law is different from Sharia Law or Islamic Law, but the Muslim law contains certain aspects of Islamic Law or Shara Law in it. 3. Today the private matters of Muslims are governed by Muslim Law for instance marriage, divorce custody and maintenance. 4. Now a days, the Muslim law principles have been included into three key statutes as Act No. 13 of 1951 Marriage and Divorce (Muslim) Act, Act No. 10 of 1931 Muslim Intestate Succession Ordinance and Act No. 51 of 1956 Muslim Mosques and Charitable Trusts or Wakfs Act. 5. As stated earlier the Muslim Law could be applied for people who are only Muslims by virtue of birth and conversion to Islam. 6. Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act specifically says in Section 17, that every marriage contracted between Muslims after the commencement of this Act shall be registered immediately upon the conclusion of the Nikah ceremony connected therewith. It is noteworthy to state on Nikah . Nikah is an Arabic word and the nikah ceremony is similar to customary marriage. 7. Section 08 of this Act states that there are male registrars to be appointed for the purpose of solemnization of Muslim marriages. Muslim Law speaks about Mahr and Kaikuli'. In which the Kaikuli is not promoted by Sharia Law. 8. There is a special court system known as Quazi Court set up to look into the matrimonial matters and maintenance disputes of muslims. Appeals from Quazi Court shall be lodged in Board of Quazis. 9. Muslim Law permits more than one marriage only for the male party, but it doesn't permits to misuse it's principles. It's amply clear in the case of Natalie Abeysundere Vs Christopher Abeysundere and another 1998 1 SLR 185. In this case where a non Muslim contracted his first marriage under the Marriage Registration Ordinance had contracted the second marriage under Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act during the subsistence of the marriage by embracing Islam. The court held that the second purported marriage contracted under the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act is void notwithstanding the conversion to Islam