The Malaysian Legal System

The Federal Constitution provides that

power is exercised by the legislative, the
executive and the judiciary.

The Malaysian Legal System consists of

the Judiciary, the Attorney General
Chambers and the Law Firms.
The Judicial System in Malaysia
The judicial system evolves around the
court structure, its hierarchy, their
jurisdiction and powers.

The courts in Malaysia can be divided into

Subordinate Courts (Peninsular Malaysia
and Sabah & Sarawak) and Superior
Courts in Malaysia.
 The Subordinate Courts
The subordinate courts in peninsular Malaysia
consists of:

The Penghulus Courts

+ lowest level of subordinate courts
+ presided over by a penghulu or headman
appointed by a State Government
+ penghulu empowered to hear and determine
proceedings of civil claims not exceeding RM50
 Magistrates Courts
+ Deals with minor civil and criminal case
+ presided over by a Magistrate
+ possesses jurisdiction to try all offences
for which the maximum term of
punishment provided by the law not
exceed 10 years imprisonment or all
offences punishable with fine only.
 Juvenile Courts

+ deal with criminal offenders below the age of

18 years
+ the court consists of a magistrate assisted by
2 lay advisors (one should be a women)
+ the court is closed to members of the public in
order to protect the young offender from publicity
+ if found guilty the offender may be sent to one
of the approved institutions or schools where he
or she is given corrective education
 Sessions Court
+ the highest of the subordinate or inferior
courts
+ It is under charge of the Sessions Court
Judge
+ Its criminal jurisdiction extends to all
offences other than offences punishable
with death (death sentence)
+ in civil matters, it has jurisdiction to try all
actions and suits where the amount of
dispute does not exceed RM300,000.
 Matters relating to land, specific
performance or recession of contracts,
injunction, probate and administration of
estates, divorce, bankruptcy, trusts and
accounts an application has to be made to
the High Court
 The Subordinates in Sabah & Sarawak
The Native Court
+ is peculiar only to Sabah & Sarawak
+ exercise jurisdiction over matters affecting
native customs where the parties are native
(Ibans, Bidayuhs, Kalabits, Muruts, Penans etc)
Magistrates, Juvenile and Sessions Courts
+ operate similar to their counterparts in
Peninsular Malaysia and are govern by the
same statutes
 The Superior Courts in Malaysia
Comprises 2 High Courts the High Court of
Malaya and the High Court in Sabah & Sarawak,
the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.
The High Court
+ consists of 2 Chief Judges one in Peninsular
Malaysian and one in Sabah & Sarawak
+ there are > 60 judges and judicial
commissioners
+ their jurisdiction is original that is it has
unlimited criminal and civil powers, appellate
and supervisory
+ any civil matter which cannot be determined in the
subordinate courts is heard before the High Court
+ has jurisdiction to try all civil proceedings

The High Court of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur is recognized

into the following divisions:
+ Commercial
+ Appellate and Special Powers
+ Civil
+ Criminal

Each division has a separate registry with a Senior

Assistant Registrar assigned to each judge
 The Industrial Court
+ a tribunal that exercise judicial or quasi-
judicial functions established to relieve the
ordinary courts of some of their work and
provide specialized adjudication of
disputes of a technical character
+ constituted under the Industrial Relation
Act 1967, deals primarily with trade
disputes and has jurisdiction over matters
concerning employers, employees and
trade unions.
 The Court of Appeal
+ any appeal on the decision made by the
High Court on a case can be made and
filed to the Court of Appeal to be reviewed
again by the judges of the Appeal Court

The Federal Court

+ the last frontier for a complainant to
apply for another review on the case after
the appeal made at the Appeal Court failed
 The Attorney Generals Chambers
The objective of the Attorney General Chambers
is to provide legal services to the government,
government agencies and the public. Their
functions among others are:
To give legal advice and views to the Malaysian
Government in accordance with principles taking
into account the policy of Malaysian Government
and public policy
To advice the Federal and State Government on
all legal matters including syariah
 To draft all legislation for the Federal
Government
To provide prosecution instructions to all
related law enforcement agencies
To represent the Government in civil cases
To revise and reprint the laws of Malaysia
and to undertake law reform
 Law Firms (Advocate and
Solicitors)
These are law firms that provide services
to the public that wanted to pursue any
complaint or defend themselves against a
complainant to the court against another
party either individual, organization or
government. They usually put a large
amount of fees for the service that they
provided. They represent and speaks for
their client in the court.
 The Bar Council of Malaysia