The Judiciary in the Maldives has been a systematic institution throughout the history of the nation. It has always been an institution which is under the full control of the Head of State and is still to some degree. However a radical change occurred during the past decades, the introduction of the English legal system into the country; a result of the Maldivian society coming in close contact with the outside world. Consequently, the present legal system of the country is a mixture of not only Shari’ah and customs, but the English legal system also. Pre-Islamic history The early and medieval history of the Maldives were ignored until recent times. There are few works on the early history of the country they are, however, not completely reliable due to lack of historical evidence and immense references to folklore. The judicial system which took a new direction after the country embraced Islam in 1153 A.C. and is an predecessor of the previous system which had evolved centuries ago. According to Allama Ahmed Shihabuddine of Addu Meedhoo, the son of Addu Bodu Fandiyaaru Thakurufaanu, the first inhabitants of the Maldives, the dheyvi’s, came here around 4th century B.C. and had a leader whom they called ‘Sawamia’. The Sawamia was the religious leader of these people. They thought that this Sawamia was an agent of God and hence, in their social organisation he held absolute power of life and death over the people. He was the authority on their affairs. All disputes and conflicts, whether between two government officials, or a government official and a common person, or between two common people, were decided by the Sawamia. When we take the above accounts into considerations we know that from the earliest times the people living in the Maldives had a system which was functioning as a judicial body. In this system, the judge was the leader or the Sawamia and the court might have been the leader’s official residence. It may be assumed that the society would have been governed on the basis of some prevailing customs and traditions. According to Isdhoo Loamaafaanu, a historical document of the Maldives written in 1195 A.C., there was a set of customs implemented as law in the country when Islam came in 1153 A.C. This set of customs was known as ‘poorube roodin’. From this report also we can deduce that a system of laws was