A N EXHAUSTIVE study of conflict of law in Islam cannot be
presented in a limited number of pages. This is particularly
true of private international law during the first centuries because
it has not yet been thoroughly examined. ¹ It will be useful, how-
ever, to state some facts from the works of ancient Muslim jurists
and try to systematize the empirical solutions recommended in
various schools of law in order to compare them with the law of
conflicts in modern systems. The first section will discuss the situa-
tion of the non-Muslim inhabitants of Islamic territory and ex-
amine their legal and legislative status. The second section will
present the conflicts born of the multiplicity of laws and customs
in Muslim countries where the law of the believers differed from
the law of other religious communities. This survey will be lim-
ited to the Islamic period (from the reign of the first caliph to the
Conquest of Constantinople by Muhammad II).

During the following period the emphasis falls on the nature
of the conflict between Muslim and non-Muslim personal status
law in the various oriental countries. In passing it is necessary to
note the origin of the religious laws which still govern the inhabi-
tants of countries detached from the Ottoman Empire. This study
will require a discussion of the legal status of these communities
prior to the break-up of the Empire.

The discussion will be limited to an examination of the sources
and evolution of problems of private international law as they re-
late to doctrine and custom in countries which are still making a
distinction between religious and secular legislation. Turkey has
adopted the Swiss Civil Code in an amended form to replace much
of her law, including personal status law. Because matters of per-
sonal status are no longer based on religion, the solutions of con-
flicts have lost a unique quality derived from the particularism of
a diversity of religious groups and community laws. Even thus
limited, the survey will not include all the countries in which com-

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