A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SHARIA AND SECULAR LAW OF INHERITANCE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK

Abstract

Inheritance by children born outside marriage is a fairly complex challenge. Against the above backdrop. The paper examines the inheritance rights of children born out of wedlock by comparing secular laws of Uganda and Sharia on succession, bearing in mind the best interests of a child together with the principles of equality and non-discrimination. The major problem investigated in this paper is the existence of the gap in the law of inheritance in Sharia and the lack of clear regulations in the secular laws of Uganda concerning the inheritance of children born out of wedlock. The study revealed that under Sharia, the children born out of wedlock inherit from their mothers but not their fathers, which is totally different from the secular laws of Uganda. The doctrinal legal research methodology was used by analyzing both primary and secondary sources of both Sharia and Secular laws. The study discovers that the secular law also sacrifices and restores normalcy in the society by way of allowing Walad Zina to inherit part of the estate of the deceased father.