ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the place of multijuralism in family law, which refers to as family law's legal pluralism. If one was to examine only the reported cases where judges are asked to assess the weight of religious legal principles or the binding character of religious domestic contracts on the parties, multijuralism would appear to be a very minor occurrence in family law. The chapter examines debates over religious marriage and divorce in South Africa and includes qualitative research – based on interviews in 2006 with Muslim social welfare providers at the Muslim Judicial Council and the Islamic Social Welfare Agency in Cape Town, as well as with Muslim women. Most of the women agreed that for religious women it is important to have religious mediation of their separation agreement and to secure a religious divorce that would be recognized in Canada or in a Muslim country.
