Legal competition from Sharia - a government plot?

Sharia law is becoming much more widely used in UK, or so we are told in the news this week. It seems that it is much cheaper to resolve legal disputes in a religious court than in a real court.

It is not new news that there are at least 85 Sharia courts operating in UK, because this surprising revelation was made in a Civitas report in 2009.  However it is about time we had an update on this aspect of creeping Islam, just in case the country is completely infiltrated before the apathetic public notices anything happening.  After all, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chief Justice have already acquiesced to the start of the process as you can read in that report.

Thinking about it though, perhaps there is one good thing in this news.  Almost everyone in the world (except lawyers) believes that solicitors and barristers charge too much for their services.  When did you last see a barrister on a bicycle?  Maybe it is time they had some competition. 

In fact, it is tempting to speculate that the current government - being largely right of centre - might have introduced sharia deliberately in order to create a competitive market.  The next thing will be to privatise the Magistrates Courts.  I suspect that the Crown Courts will have to wait until after the next election but at least it would be a start.

After that the Church of England might reintroduce some of its own medieval institutions.   Prerogative Courts, Consistory and Commissary Courts, Archdeaconry Courts and Peculiars.  We could do with a few witch burnings to keep the public in control.

The more the better in a free market!

So . . who will be the first person to volunteer to be judged by sharia?  It is very cheap you know - and some of the punishments are administered swiftly.  No lingering in jail waiting to be sentenced to a humane punishment.

Decapitation can't hurt for very long can it?