control of the President. However, the lower courts are under the Ministry of Justice, a limb of the Executive organ of the state, and not under the High Court. The Ministry of Justice came into being in 1909 in the form of Mahkamah al-Shariyyaah. This institution evolved to become the Ministry of Justice in 1968. When the Mahkamah al-Shariyyah came into being six officials were there in the Mahkamah to adjudicate in legal matters. In 1955, the Mahkamah was reformed and the administration of this institution was strengthened. In accordance with the new system, three tables were created in the Mahkamah, with a Judge and a Naa’ib for each table. During the same year, a legal commission was appointed for each ward of Male. In 1966, the tasks of the Mahkamah were divided and a thaana latter (from ‘haa’ to ‘alif’) was given to each section of the institution. In accordance with the new arrangements, ‘haa’ was the section of the Chief Judge. During the same year, the sections were numbered from 1-7. later some changes were brought to this arrangement and finally, in 1980, the 8 divisions of the Ministry of Justice were converted into 8 courts, with a numerical number given to each of them. Until the present Constitution the court system had been like this. However, with the present Constitution, a major change occurred, with the eight courts being abolished and a completely new four courts coming into being. These courts are the Family Court, the Criminal Court, the Civil Court, and the Juvenile Court. The functions of these courts can easily be implied from the names; the Family Court is concerned with all family affaires in general; the Criminal Court decides in criminal cases, the Juvenile Court in all cases in which children are involved and the Civil Court with all civil cases except family affaires. Separate offices for legal officials or the Naa’ibs were created in the atolls in 1962. During this time, an office of the Naa’ib was established in each island. Later, an Atoll Court was established in each atoll in 1970. In 1979 all the Atoll Courts and Naa’ib Offices were abolished and an Island Court was established in each island. Since then, no major changes have come about in the judicial structure of the atolls. With the Constitution of 2008, the Maldivian Judiciary has entered a new phase of transformation and