Jurnal Ilmiah Al-Syir'ah
Vol 24, No 1 (2026)

Legal Interpretation in Islamic, Romano-Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon Traditions Must Move Beyond Textualism to Respond to Digital Legal Challenges

Yevhen Leheza (Dnipro Humanitarian University)
Bohdan Stetsiuk (Ukrainian а Flight Academy)
Mykola Voinarivskyi (Mykolaiv District Court of Mykolaiv Region)
Viktoriia Sychova (Dnipro State University of Internal Affairs)
Yuliia Zaporozhchenko (University of Customs and Finance)



Article Info

Publish Date
23 Jun 2026

Abstract

This article examines the interpretation of regulatory and legal acts in Islamic law, the Romano-Germanic legal tradition, and the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition in the context of contemporary digital legal challenges. The study is based on the research gap that previous studies have generally examined these legal traditions separately, while limited attention has been given to how they reinterpret existing legal norms when facing similar new problems, such as artificial intelligence, crypto-assets, smart contracts, and electronic evidence. Using a normative juridical method supported by a comparative legal approach and limited content analysis, this article compares the sources of law, subjects of interpretation, dominant interpretative methods, institutional authority, and flexibility of each legal tradition. The study finds that Islamic law emphasizes moral legitimacy and public benefit through ijtihad, maslahah, and maqasid al-sharia; the Romano-Germanic tradition prioritizes legal certainty through codified norms, systematic interpretation, and teleological reasoning; while the Anglo-Saxon tradition offers flexibility through precedent, purposive reasoning, and case-based development of law. The article argues that no single legal tradition provides a complete model for interpreting law in the digital era. A more adaptive model requires the combination of normative certainty, institutional consistency, interpretative flexibility, and value-based justice. These findings contribute to comparative legal scholarship and provide a conceptual basis for improving legal interpretation in modern law enforcement and regulatory reform.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

JIS

Publisher

Subject

Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice

Description

Jurnal Ilmiah Al-Syir'ah, with registered number ISSN 1693-4202 (Print), ISSN 2528-0368 (Online) is a peer-reviewed journal published twice a year in June and December by Faculty of Sharia, State Islamic Institute of Religious Affairs (IAIN) Manado. Jurnal Ilmiah Al-Syir'ah is a Communication Media ...