British media have highlighted that the case – which involved a Jewish couple – could open the door to Sharia law divorces as well, a potentially controversial development against the backdrop of recent arrests of alleged Islamic vigilantes attempting to enforce ‘Muslim zones’ in parts of London’s east end.
The Times newspaper reports today that lawyers forecast the English High Court judgment – which was handed down on Wednesday – ‘could have far reaching consequences and clear the way for other couples to seek a divorce in a religious court’.

Arbitration

In this specific case, a divorcing Jewish couple asked the English court to approve a divorce settlement reached through the New York Beth Din. The Times reports that the English judge found that the principles used by the Jewish religious court conformed to the laws of England and Wales.‘The outcome was in keeping with English law, whilst achieved by a process rooted in Jewish culture,’ the paper quoted the judge as saying.
James Stewart, a family law specialist partner at London legal practice Manches, which acted for the wife in the case, described the decision as being ‘perhaps the first where the court considered its ability to refer all issues between parties who were embroiled in divorce, children, financial and child abduction proceedings to arbitration’.