KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — As part of her bid to have her multi-million pound divorce battle with tycoon Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng decided by the UK courts, former Miss Malaysia Pauline Chai today sought to get the Federal Court to decide on the constitutionality of the domicile rule.

New Sin Yew, one of Chai’s lawyers, confirmed that the application for leave to appeal was filed at the Federal Court registry at around noon today.

“We want the Federal Court to decide for the very first time whether the common law rule on coverture is constitutional.

“It affects all married women in Malaysia,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted, as he stressed the importance of the appeal.

Chai had previously at the High Court and Court of Appeal failed to get Malaysian courts to rule that the domicile rule was unconstitutional, which would effectively mean that divorce will be decided in Malaysia.

Despite Chai no longer being a Malaysian citizen and desire to reside in the UK, the Malaysian courts ruled that the domicile rule still applies here and her domicile would follow Khoo’s – Malaysia.

In today’s application seeking the Federal Court’s nod for an appeal, Chai set out three legal questions, including whether the rule of a wife following her husband’s domicile forms part of Malaysia’s common law after Independence Day.

She also wants the country’s highest court to consider if this common law rule is ultra vires the Federal Constitution’s Articles 8(1) and 8 (2), and whether this rule should be abandoned by the Malaysian courts as being irrelevant due to local circumstances.

Article 8 (1) and Article 8 (2) states that all people are equal before the law and that there shall be no discrimination against any citizen on the grounds of gender.

The actual divorce proceedings have yet to start, as the estranged couple are fighting legal battles in both the UK and Malaysia on which country’s courts should hear their divorce case.

Chai, 68, is seeking for the dispute to be decided by the English courts where she stands to gain up to half of Khoo’s estimated £400 million (RM2.1 billion) fortune, possibly the largest divorce settlement in British history.

Khoo, 75-year-old chairman of international fashion and interiors brand Laura Ashley, is applying to have the case heard in Malaysia, arguing that they were married in Malaysia where he also maintains his official residence. Khoo would risk losing less of his wealth if the trial is held here.

The UK courts had previously decided to hear the divorce there. Khoo’s appeal hearing in the UK courts is in October.