Impediments To Marriage In Islamic And Secular Legal Systems: A Comparative Analysis Of Pakistan’s MFLO 1961 And Finland’s Marriage Act 1929

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative legal analysis of marriage barriers in the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance of 1961 in Pakistan and the Marriage Act of 1929 in Finland on the process of defining, justifying, and implementing marriage restrictions in lawful marriages. The study follows a doctrinal comparative approach, which is based on the interpretation of statutes, historical studies, and juristic arguments. According to the historical context, there were two different directions related to the marriage law development in Finland: the ecclesiastical canon of the Evangelical Lutheran Church was transformed into a secular civil order, and theological norms were transformed into the postulates of the public order and genetic welfare. On the contrary, the family law in Pakistan evolved on the Anglo-Muhammadan precedents towards codifying the Islamic jurisprudence maintaining the religious authority, but taking the shape of modern administrative. The paper will identify the differences in the approach to moral, social, and legal rationalities by examining the legal secularization of Finland and the juristic continuity of Pakistan based on the analysis of the key impediments that include consanguinity, affinity, polygamy, and religious difference. The results show that although both systems are characterized by the interest in the social cohesion and family relations legitimacy, the justifications of these matters that are religious in Pakistan and civil in Finland are characterized by the different concepts of law and its connection to religion and morality.