INTRODUCTION TO

MALAYSIAN LEGAL SYSTEM

Learning outcome
Students should be able to:
Be familiar with the term law,
sources of Malaysian Law, the
Malaysian Government system and
Malaysian Judicial system.

INTRODUCTION
What is law?
- A body of rule which is enforceable by the
State.
Law in relation to justice
- the aim is to attain justice in society.
- justice? It is an abstract idea of right and
wrong , fairness and equality.
- therefore, the aim of a given law is to
encourage the doing of what is right or just
in a particular set of circumstances.

Cont
Law, the State and Constitution
- Malaysia, which consists of Peninsular Malaysia,
Sabah and Sarawak is one political unit, but it is not
governed by the same set of laws.
- There are attempts to achieve uniformity.
- However, there are links that unite the two
parts
of Malaysia, the Parliament and the Federal Court.
- The Parliament can and does legislate for the
whole country.
- The FC acts as a final court of appeal for the
whole country.

Cont

Malaysia is a federation of 13 states and 3

Federal Territories. And it has a Federal
Constitution and a 13 State Constitutions.
- Federal Constitution is the Supreme Law of
the
land.
State Constitution is law made by State to
govern her
own state. Any law made by
Parliament or by
State
Constitution that
inconsistent with Federal
Constitution is VOID
- An article 74 of the Federal Constitution provides
that
Parliament may make laws with respect to
any of the
matters enumerated in the Federal
Lists, State Legislature may make laws in respect
to any of the matters enumerated in State List.

Cont
- Both Parliament and State Assembly may also make
laws with respect to any matters enumerated in the
Concurrent List. But, if there inconsistency, laws made by
Parliament shall prevail.
Classification of Law
1) Public law
- PL is basically the law which governs the relationship
between individuals and the State.
- PL further divided into constitutional and criminal law
- Constitutional law lays down the rights of individuals
in the state.
- Criminal law codifies the various offences committed
by individuals against the State.

Cont
2) International law
- law which regulates the relationship
between one state and another.
- Eg: Singapore & Malaysia ( Pulau Batu
Puteh)
- it may further be subdivided into 2
categories:
public international law
private international law

Cont
3) Private law
- law between one individual and
another
- concerned with matters that affect
the rights and duties of individuals
amongst themselves.
- Eg; contract, tort, trust etc

Malaysian Constitution &

Sources of Law
The word sources has several meanings
which include the following:
1)
historical sources factors that have
influenced the development of the law
although they are not recognized as law.
( Eg: religious beliefs, local customs and
opinion of jurists)
2) Legal sources legal rules that make up
the law . Can be classified into written &
unwritten

Cont
Sources of law can be found from:
statutes
law reports
text books
Sources of law can be classified into:
1) Written
- is the most important source of law.
- it refers to that portion of Malaysian Law which includes:
1. The Federal and State Constitution
2. Legislation enacted by Parliament and State
Assemblies
3. Subsidiary legislation

Cont
2) Unwritten law
- doesnt mean that it is not written
- what made it unwritten is that it is not
made
by the formal legislative bodies.
- Sources of unwritten law are:
1. English law
2. Case law
3. Customs

Cont
Constitution
- Federal Constitution is the supreme law
of the country. Any law passes after
Independence Day with inconsistent
with the Federal Constitution is void.
- Parliament exist under Constitution
therefore all action must consistent
with the Constitution. If inconsistent, it
is void.

Cont
Legislation
- Refers to law enacted by a body
constituted for this purpose.
- Legislation made by parliament at
the federal level and by state
legislative assemblies at state level

Cont
Subsidiary legislation
- In theory, power to rule in Malaysia is divided into :
Body of law

legislative
executive
judiciary
Power to make law is vested to the legislative body.
However, there are too little laws made by legislative
body.
Part of the power is vested to the executive body.
Legislation made by the executive through delegation is
known as subsidiary legislation

Cont
English Law
- EL is used as a source of law which was
provided in Sec 3 and sec 5 of Civil Law Act
1956
- However; sec 3 is bound on two limitations:
1) it is applied only in the absence of local
statutes on particular subjects
2) only part of the EL that is suited to local
circumstances will be applied.

Cont
Doctrine of judicial precedent
- meaning: every time the judge is to
make a decision in a trial, they are
follow the previous decision made by
the previous judge, where the fact in
the previous case is the same as in the
present case.
- If there is no precedent, the judge is
bound to make decision as he think just.

Cont
Doctrine of JP policies are:
1) decisions made by a court will bind decision made by
courts which rank lower from her in hierarchy of courts
2) decisions of a HC will not bind decisions of other HC
but are to be respected
3) decisions of subordinate courts will bind those
particular courts only.
Custom
- The most common customs that apply are adat
perpatih and adat temenggung.
- There is also customs for Chinese and Indian

The Judicial System

FEDERAL COURT
- It ranks at the highest in hierarchy of courts in Malaysia.
- Jurisdiction to hear:
original
appellate on both
constitution question
advisory
Criminal appeals only can be made by the convict as
against sentence only, where as the prosecutor can
appeals as against any decision including acquittal
For civil appeals, is disallowed if amount in demand is
less than RM250,000(except with the HC & FC
discretion?

Cont
COURT OF APPEAL
- COA has jurisdiction to hear and
determine any appeal against any
HC decision on criminal matters.
- Civil appeals which can be hear only
where the amount of claim is at least
RM250,000.

Cont

HIGH COURT
- Consist of two chief judges, one in peninsular Malaysia and one
in Sabah and Sarawak.
- Jurisdiction to hear: original
appellate
supervisory
Jurisdiction to hear original jurisdiction is unlimited, but in
practise HC does not try a small criminal or civil cases.
HC jurisdiction is to try cases under her province only
Also has jurisdiction to hear appeal from subordinate courts.
However, the appeals of criminal disallowed if the amounts of
penalty is not more than RM25,000 for civil cases, appeals is
not allowed if amount of claims is not less than RM10,000.

Cont
SESSION COURT
- Has jurisdiction to hear any types of
criminal cases except those deals with
death sentence.
- Under civil jurisdiction, claims is not more
than RM250,000.
- For complex matters, such as trust,
termination of contract, the cases will be
heard in HC even the amount in demand is
less than RM250,000.

Cont..
MAGISTRATE COURT
- Divided into 2:
1)1st class magistrate
2)2nd class magistrate
- The 1st class magistrate court is for civil
case where amount in claim is less
RM25,000
- The 2nd class is to hear claims of less than
RM3000

Cont..
CHILD COURT
- Specially for minor between 10- 18.
- For murdered, the juvenile will be
tried as an adult.

thank you for

your cooperation