Introduction to the Sources of Law in Malaysia †

Prior to colonization by western powers, a form of rudimentary, tribal legal system was said to exist on the Peninsula. Various aboriginal tribes had been in occupation of the Peninsula as well as Borneo long before foreign settlers arrived. Although their laws were primitive and unwritten, their organizational abilities were adequate and served as a model for later Malay villages or kampongs. For example, the head of the village or penghulu was an organizational social structure derived from the Negrito tribe. The penghulu of any village or kampong usually had full civil and criminal powers over his flock.