Transformation of Tradition:

The Codification of Personal Status Law in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Beata Polok

Zubair Abbasi

 

Abstract: This article examines the code of the Personal Status Law (PSL) 2022 by historically contextualising it within the legal system of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). We argue that the PSL, as a part of the reform agenda of Vision 2030, strengthens the institution of marriage and empowers women to achieve the objective of economic development of the country. The PSL advances women’s rights by expanding their right to marriage, prohibiting child marriages, improving women’s financial rights to dower and maintenance, enhancing wives’ right to dissolution of marriage, protecting parentage rights, and widening mothers’ rights to child’s custody. The codification of Muslim personal status law represents a significant transformation in the KSA’s traditional legal system and illustrates the culmination of a process of modernisation of the state and society stretching over past several decades. The future legal developments are likely to continue the reform agenda to ensure women’s financial empowerment by recognising their right to matrimonial property and removing barriers from female work force participation by equitably distributing the caring responsibilities within the institution of marriage.