Legitimacy of the Common Law in Post-Colonial Malaysia

This article will defend the common law in Malaysia by constructing a theoretical foundation upon which the legitimacy of the common law can rest in the post-colonial era. Under the classical common law theory as developed by British jurists, the legitimacy of the common law rests upon the 'custom of the realm'. The argument of this article is that, in Malaysia, its legitimacy rests not on the 'custom' of the realm, but on the 'pluralism' of the realm.