Is the recent mortgage documentation scandal merely a case of 'procedural problems,' to be quickly moved past, or is it indicative of massive fraud that has profound implications for the entire conventional mortgage industry. Yves Smith's New York Times Op-Ed  addresses some of the issues at stake. She notes 

"Evidence is mounting that these [procedural] requirements were widely ignored. Judges are noticing: more are finding that banks cannot prove that they have the standing to foreclose on the properties that were bundled into securities. If this were a mere procedural problem, the banks could foreclose once they marshaled their evidence. But banks who are challenged in many cases do not resume these foreclosures, indicating that their lapses go well beyond minor paperwork (my emphasis)."

Robust and dynamic ethico-legal systems are characterized by a balance between considerations of form and substance. This is a point that should be remembered the next time that Islamic financial ethicists' traditionally-informed concern for the form--as well as the 'substance'--of contracts is derided by external and internal critics.