In 1905 British colonial administrators passed the Muhammedan Law Recognition Ordinance, which established a Muslim court in Bathurst (modern day Banjul, Gambia). The creation of this court appeased the local Muslim population's requests that their judicial cases be heard by a Qadi (Muslim Judge) rather than in a European Court with a Christian Judge. On the one hand, the Muslim court provided legal continuity by adhering to and maintaining a combination of ancestral precedent and sharia law practices established centuries earlier. On the other hand, the basic act of a foreign non-Muslim authority "creating" a Muslim court meant a transformation of the region's law practices was underway.