Malay legal digests
The Hukum Kanun Melaka ('Melaka Code of Laws') as copied by Sayid al-Sharif Jamaluddin ibni Sayid al-Sharif Abdullah in Java in 1762.
Following an ancient tradition of both oral and inscribed laws, legal digests in manuscript form were first devised during the Melaka Sultanate (1401–1511). These were later used as a model by other Malay sultanates for the compilation of their own legal digests. A number of these digests have survived to the present day, each codifying oral customary laws, and designed to assist Malay rulers to administer and keep law and order in their respective states.
- Information in the full article includes
- Ancient origins
- Undang-undang Melaka and its influence
- The Kedah chronicles
- The Perak chronicles