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The legal system of Saudi Arabia is based on Sharia, Islamic law derived from the Qu'ran and the Sunnah (the traditions) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The sources of Sharia also include Islamic scholarly consensus developed after Muhammad's death. Its interpretation by judges in Saudi Arabia is influenced by the medieval texts of the literalist Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence. Uniquely in the Muslim world, Sharia has been adopted by Saudi Arabia in an uncodified form. This, and the lack of judicial precedent, has resulted in considerable uncertainty in the scope and content of the country's laws. The government therefore announced its intention to codify Sharia in 2010, but this is yet to be implemented. Sharia has also been supplemented by ''regulations'' issued by royal decree covering modern issues such as intellectual property and corporate law. Nevertheless, Sharia remains the primary source of law, especially in areas such as criminal, family, commercial and contract law, and the Qu'ran and the Sunnah are declared to be the country's constitution. In the areas of land and energy law the extensive proprietorial rights of the Saudi state (in effect, the Saudi royal family) constitute a significant feature. The current Saudi court system was created by King Abdul Aziz, who founded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, and was introduced to the country in stages between 1927 and 1960. It comprises general and summary Sharia courts, with some administrative tribunals to deal with disputes on specific modern regulations. Trials in Saudi Arabia are bench trials. Courts in Saudi Arabia observe few formalities and the country's first criminal procedure code, issued in 2001, has been largely ignored. King Abdullah, in 2007, introduced a number of significant judicial reforms, although they are yet to be fully implemented. Criminal law punishments in Saudi Arabia include public beheading, stoning, amputation and lashing. Serious criminal offences include not only internationally recognized crimes such as murder, rape, theft and robbery, but also apostasy, adultery, witchcraft and sorcery. In addition to the regular police force, Saudi Arabia has a secret police, the ''Mabahith'', and "religious police", the ''Mutawa''. The latter enforces Islamic social and moral norms. Western-based human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have criticized the activities of both the Mabahith and the Mutawa, as well as a number of other aspects of human rights in Saudi Arabia. These include the number of executions, the range of offences which are subject to the death penalty, the lack of safeguards for the accused in the criminal justice system, the treatment of homosexuals, the use of torture, the lack of religious freedom, and the highly disadvantaged position of women. The Albert Shanker Institute and Freedom House have also reported that "Saudi Arabia's practices diverge from the concept of the rule of law." ==History== Sharia (or Islamic law), the primary source of law in modern Saudi Arabia, was developed gradually by Muslim judges and scholars between the seventh and tenth centuries. From the time of the Abbasid caliphate in the 8th century, the developing Sharia was accepted as the basis of law in the towns of the Muslim world, including the Arabian peninsula, and upheld by local rulers, eclipsing ''urf'' (or pre-Islamic local customary law). In the rural areas, ''urf'' continued to be predominant for some time, and, for instance, was the main source of law among the bedouin of Nejd in central Arabia until the early 20th century. By the 11th century, the Muslim world had developed four major Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence (or ''fiqh''), each with its own interpretations of Sharia: Hanbali, Maliki, Shafi and Hanafi. In Arabia, a preference for the Hanbali school was advocated by the Wahhabi movement, founded in the 18th century. Wahhabism, a strict form of Sunni Islam, was supported by the Saudi royal family (the Al Saud) and is now dominant in Saudi Arabia. From the 18th century, the Hanbali school therefore predominated in Nejd and central Arabia, the heartland of Wahhabi Islam.〔 In the more cosmopolitan Hejaz, in the west of the peninsula, both the Hanafi and Shafi schools were followed.〔 Similarly, different court systems existed.〔 In Nejd, there was a simple system of single judges for each of the major towns.〔 The judge was appointed by the local governor, with whom he worked closely to dispose of cases.〔 In the Hejaz, there was a more sophisticated system, with courts comprising panels of judges.〔 In 1925, Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Nejd conquered the Hejaz and united it with his existing territories to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. In 1927, the king introduced a new court system to the Hejaz comprising general and summary courts and ordered that Hanbali fiqh should be used.〔 However, Nejd's traditional system of judges was left in place in the face of conservative opposition from the Nejd religious establishment.〔 After becoming familiar with the Hejaz court system in the following decades, the religious establishment allowed its introduction to the rest of the country between 1957 and 1960.〔 Additionally, from the 1930s, Abdul Aziz created government tribunals or "committees" to adjudicate in areas covered by royal decrees such as commercial or labor law. The system of Sharia courts and government tribunals created by Abdul Aziz largely remained in place until the 2007 judiciary reforms (see below).〔 Until 1970, the judiciary was the responsibility of the Grand Mufti, the country's most senior religious authority. When the incumbent Grand Mufti died in 1969, however, the then king, Faisal decided not to appoint a successor and took the opportunity to transfer responsibility to the newly established Ministry of Justice. The Shia community of the Eastern province have a separate legal tradition. Although they follow Sharia, they apply the Shia Jafari school of jurisprudence to it. In 1913, when Abdul Aziz conquered the area, he granted the Shias a separate judiciary for dealing with religious and family law cases: one judge in Qatif, and one in Al-Hasa. This remained the position, with the two judges ministering to a population of around two million, until 2005 when the number of judges was increased to seven.〔 For all other areas of law, the Shia community are under the jurisdiction of the regular Sunni courts. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Legal system of Saudi Arabia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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