Show Summary Details

Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD HANDBOOKS ONLINE (www.oxfordhandbooks.com). © Oxford University Press, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 26 February 2021

Abstract and Keywords

This chapter describes international law in Malaysia. Malaysia is unique in the sense that it amalgamates multiple characteristics: a federal state, a constitutional monarchy, and a state with a dual legal system. It is a multilateral player with active involvement in many intergovernmental organizations. In relation to international conventions, Malaysia has a policy of respecting them and complying with them. What is surprising, however, is that Malaysia rejects outright the doctrine of incorporation in respect of customary international law, deviating from the practice of the UK and other common law countries. Despite the fact that customary international law is binding on all states, and that a state will be responsible under international law for its breach, customary international law appears to be an alien law to the Malaysian courts. It appears that Malaysia is not only a dualist country, but also more dualist compared to any other common law counterparts.

Keywords: Malaysia, international organizations, international law, national law, customary international law

Abdul Ghafur Hamid @ Khin Maung Sein

Abdul Ghafur Hamid @ Khin Maung Sein is Professor at Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic University Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.

Access to the complete content on Oxford Handbooks Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can''t find the answer there, please contact us.