Myriam and Shamala never met, but their lives and the lives of their two children are intertwined in legal history.

Myriam had two children, a girl, aged eight and a boy, aged three. Sometime in 1971, she lost custody of both in the Selangor syariah court - the kadi 's court, as it was so called in her time, to the father of her children.

Myriam was divorced from the infants' father and had remarried. Under general Islamic law (the Islamic law on guardianship and custody at that time was not codified), she could legally lose custody of her daughter or both (depending on which opinion is preferred) if she married a man who is not related to the children.

We do not know the facts of Myriam's case in the kadi 's court. What we do know was, Myriam made a fresh application (de novo) to the High Court under a federal law, the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1961 for custody.

This law is a federal law of general application, applying to Muslims, if it is not contrary to 'the Muslim religion and custom of the Malays'. There was also a provision in the state Islamic law at that time that gave preference to a decision in the civil court.

Thus, in the event of any difference arising between the kadi 's court and a civil court, the decision of the civil court shall prevail.