The evolution of Islamic trade law under the influence of international trade practice: towards the problem of convergence of legal orders

Abstract

The article provides a historical and legal analysis of the development of Islamic trade law under the influence of secular European trade law. It was concluded that until the second half of the 20th century the influence of European trade law on Muslim legal orders was one-sided. Initially, the penetration of secular European trade law into Islamic commercial law was carried out through the law of medieval merchants (lex mercatoria). From the beginning of the 19th century the reception of secular European trade law was determined by the active colonial policy of European states (the model was the French system of trade law, reflected in the Napoleonic Commercial Code). Only at the end of the 20th century international commercial practice began to take into account Islamic contractual structures, as well as religious prohibitions and permissions of Sharia.