Except for a handful of libraries with highly specialized collections, the pending KB schedules won t have a great impact on the typical American law library. Church and state classes by state, not by church. Thus, subject headings, rather than classification, are the critical element in communicating the mix of religion and law.
Religious law is a square peg that doesn t fit well in the round hole of American law.
Perhaps reflecting the almost sacred doctrine of separation of church and state, American lawyers intuitively feel that if something is religious it can t really be law. In most western jurisdictions religious courts are largely irrelevant, and it was unheard of for anyone to try to manipulate the civil legal system in support of a theocratic domestic relations regime. It was widely assumed that modern secular law would replace ethnic, religious, and customary law throughout Africa and Asia, so that religious law would increasingly be a subject for a few specialists and antiquarians rather than mainstream legal scholars. American law cataloging practices evolved reflecting these perspectives. For starters, it is easiest to note when not to bring out religion.