Morality in Islamic Commercial Law Theory
The Paul-Andr茅 Cr茅peau Centre for Private and Comparative Law inaugurates its 2018-2020 Civil Law Workshop series on 'Les influences en droit priv茅' with a talk by Professor Omar Farahat, Faculty of Law, 黑料不打烊 University.
Abstract
This workshop investigates the place of moral considerations in shaping classical Islamic views on commerce and commercial law. The relation between morality and law is a question that received much attention in modern jurisprudence, and is often used as a framework for analyzing the Islamic legal tradition. Nonetheless, not much has been said on the place of moral ideas in shaping laws governing commercial exchanges in either tradition. While, in modern law, it is sometimes claimed that positive morality is squarely opposed to capitalist-driven commercial laws, studies on Islamic commerce tend to either offer descriptive accounts of the law, or a historical narrative of economic stagnation.
By contrast, this workshop will discuss the moral frameworks constructed by a number of classical Muslim thinkers to allow a conceptualization of commercial activity and a formulation of broad principles that make sense of Islamic legal regulation of commerce. The talk will make two central claims. Internally, Islamic commercial law theory viewed morality as an effective yardstick against which the validity of transactions could be measured. Externally, the anchoring of law in a metaphysical view of morality allowed for a more pervasive and multi-layered intervention of moral ideas in commercial regulation than generally assumed in modern works on commercial law theory.
About the Civil Law Workshops
In order to promote fundamental research in private law, the Paul-Andr茅 Cr茅peau Centre for Private and Comparative Law initiated the 鈥淐ivil Law Workshops鈥� series, bringing together jurists from Qu茅bec and beyond to work on related research topics. With their cross-disciplinary focus, the 鈥淐ivil Law Workshops鈥� contribute to enriching and stimulating fundamental research in private law.
The 2018-2020聽series of Civil law workshops presented by the Paul-Andr茅 Cr茅peau Centre for Private and Comparative Law explore "Les influences en droit priv茅".
The workshops are presented with financial assistance from Justice Canada鈥檚 Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund.
Registration is not required.
Each workshop has been accredited for 1.5 hour of continuing legal education by the Barreau du Qu茅bec and the Chambre des notaires du Qu茅bec.聽
