JUDGMENT
Introduction
[1] My learned brother Abdul Rahman Sebli, CJSS is dismissing the petition on the sole ground that the petitioners had no locus standi to file the petition. The other members of the Coram have seen my judgment in draft and have expressed their agreement with it. This is the majority judgment of the Court.
[2] In this judgment, unless otherwise expressly or impliedly stated, any references to 'Articles', 'Clauses', 'Schedules', 'Lists' shall be taken to mean any references to those of the Federal Constitution ('FC'). Likewise, any references to 'sections' means any reference to the sections of the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019 [Enactment 14] which incidentally by virtue of s 1(3) of the same, applies to Muslims only and that too, only in the State of Kelantan.
The Federal Court's Exclusive Original Jurisdiction
[3] This is a petition filed in the exclusive original jurisdiction of the Federal Court. The original jurisdiction of the Federal Court is very narrow and limited and the type of cases that can be filed directly in the Federal Court's original jurisdiction are therefore very specific (see arts 4(3), 4(4) and 128(1)).
[4] The first type of cases involves disputes on any question between States or between the Federation and any State. Purely by way of example, if the Federation were to sue or be sued by the State of Pahang, or if the State of Perak were to sue or be sued by the State of Perlis, these suits can be filed directly in the Federal Court - without leave.
[5] The second category of cases that can be filed directly in the Federal Court is any dispute where the petition seeks a declaration that a law is invalid on the ground that Parliament or the State Legislature of any State had no power to make the law in question. These kinds of petitions unlike the first category of cases, cannot be filed straight away in the Federal Court if the party filing them is neither the Federation nor any State in Malaysia. These kinds of petitions can only be filed after a single Judge of the Federal Court has granted leave to file the petition - again assuming that the party filing such a case is neither the Federation nor a State.