L’une des causes de la richesse des nations, la coopération, repose sur un échange de promesses. Si le droit des contrats est considéré comme un outil efficace - bien qu’imparfait - pour garantir ces dernières, il n’est cependant pas le seul : un tissu entier d’institutions formelles et informelles est à l’œuvre pour faciliter la coopération entre les agents économiques. Ce travail examine cette problématique dans le cadre de la finance islamique, considérée comme l’application moderne du droit des contrats islamiques. Alors qu’elle est censée utiliser des instruments de financement participatifs, la pratique de la finance islamique est dominée par le financement par la dette. Les causes généralement avancées pour expliquer cet état de fait sont des problèmes informationnels, considérés comme des vecteurs d’influence sur le comportement des banques. Cette thèse montre que ces problèmes informationnels ne sont en réalité que la conséquence d’un problème sous-jacent. Par une analyse du rôle et de la raison d’être des institutions, ce travail montre que le droit des contrats islamiques a été conçu à l’origine avec un objectif clair: assurer l’équilibre des transactions et garantir la propriété. Le respect des promesses était pour sa part assuré par d’autres types de mécanismes, notamment à travers la réputation, complétant dans les faits le droit des contrats. Cette conclusion permet d’appréhender le débat « forme vs substance » dans la finance islamique à travers l’échec d'un « transplant institutionnel intertemporel », pour montrer que les contrats évités sont dépendants du contexte dans lequel ils ont vu le jour et s’adaptent mal au contexte moderne. / One of the main causes of the wealth of nations, cooperation, is based on exchanged promises. Contract law is viewed as an efficient, though imperfect, tool to ensure promise keeping. However, contract law is not the only mechanism playing that role. A whole body of formal and informal institutions is at work easing economic agents cooperation.This work considers this issue in the Islamic finance framework which is seen as a modern application of Islamic contracts law. Islamic finance is a fruitful object of study as it is facing a paradoxe. While this finance is supposed to rely on participatory financing tools, its practice is dominated by debt based financings. Informational problems are usually identified as a cause of such practices.This work shows that information problems are not a cause but a consequence of a deeper problem. Through an analysis of the role and the raison d’être of institutions, this work puts the development of Islamic contracts law into the perspective of an economic and social context. It shows that Islamic contracts law had originally been developed with a clear goal: ensure transactions equilibrium and protect property. The respect of promises, for its part, was made possible by other mechanisms, such as reputation, supplementing contract law. This conclusion allows us to view the debate “form vs. substance” in Islamic finance as an “intertemporal institutional transplantation” failure and to show that the avoided contracts are dependent of their original context and adapt poorly to the modern one.

With the rapid development of the Islamic banking and finance in South Africa, the legal regime of South Africa, must be able to progress at the same rate of development. The recognition of a foreign legal system such as Islamic law in South Africa is challenging and difficult. South Africa, has an interest based insurance legislative framework and this is not aligned with the principles of the Islamic financial system. As a result of this, regulators have taken various measures to develop and promote the Islamic Industry. The amendment to the South African Tax legislation has created an equitable and level playing field for Islamic law. The South African government also has a further obligation which is to develop a legislative framework to govern Islamic law, as well as to enhance the regulatory and supervisory framework. The study of the development of the Islamic legal regime is an important area that aids legal practitioners in identifying and resolving legal disputes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the accommodation of the Islamic law of Takaful under the South African Insurance legal framework. / Public, Constitutional and International Law / LL. M. (Public, Constitutional and International Law)

Islamic banking in the United States of America, became recognized as an alternative to expand into the market of traditional Muslim consumers, living in the United States. Because of strict regulatory guidelines, no Islamic banks exist in the United States. Instead, conventional banks, Islāmic banking windows (IBW) and other financial institutions offer Shari‘ah compliant products by modifying classical Islamic contracts or attaching a rider to define contract verbiage. This study reviewed techniques of adapting contracts used for Shari‘ah compliant products in the United States to determine if the contracts maintain the true characteristics of the original classical Islamic contracts. Contracts in Islamic sacred law provide protections by ensuring wealth is not wasted, and no injustice is performed by either of the contracting parties. Wealth protection and justice are the inherit characteristics of contracts in the Islāmic law. Any changes or modifications may void or decrease the protections provided in Islamic law. This research reviewed the theoretical aspects of contract modifications, by analyzing the procedures used for the derivative Shari‘ah compliant product contracts used in the Islamic finance industry in the United States. Data was evaluated and compared with the requirements of classical Islamic contract equivalents, to determine the effects of these changes. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Phil. (Religious Studies)