is made of a queen being the highest authority in administering justice in the country in any other document or in folk evidence. The great traveler Abu Abdullah Muhammad, commonly called ‘Ibn Batuta’, visited the Maldives in 1343 A.C. In his records he writes as follows: “They call the judge by the name of ‘fandiyaaru kaloa.” They go to the ‘fandiyaaru kaloa’ to settle all their disputes. He is the most highly esteemed and respected person among them. His orders were like the decrees of the King himself, or even stronger. He sits on a special carpet in the palace while hearing cases. He would own three islands, and the income generated by these islands would be his income.” From the above quotation it can be understood how powerful the judge was in the political organisation of the country. This conclusion is further strengthened by the following statements: “When I married this lady (the daughter of Suleimaan Meynaa Wazeer), the Wazeer forced me to become the Judge. … There are no(t as) many big conflicts in this country as we have in our lands. The first evil custom which I abolished as a judge was the custom of women remaining with their husbands after they had been divorced. … I completely uprooted this custom.” Besides this account, Ibn Batuta also tells us about certain unislamic customs that he abolished by issuing rulings. We can assume that these judicial rulings should have been implemented by the ‘dhandanaayaka’ or some other officials who were in charge of implementing such rulings. Ibn Batuta had written reports about the procedure of trial also. “If two people are to be brought before the judge, they would be ordered to do so in writing. When this order was issued the parties should present themselves before the judge as directed. If anyone failed to do so, he would be duly punished.” Ibn Batuta further says that if a person did not want to, or could not be present before the judge, he could send someone to represent him. If the defendant was able to use a representative to speak on his behalf, it possibly means that the practice of lawyers representing their clients was there in the Maldives during those days in some form. According to Ibn Batuta, when the King felt that a case was to be reconsidered (perhaps on appeal) then the case would be