The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman (Arabic: سلطنة مسقط وعمان‎ Salṭanat Masqaṭ wa-‘Umān) was a thalassocratic nation that encompassed the present-day Sultanate of Oman and parts of present-day United Arab Emirates and Gwadar, Pakistan. The country is not to be confused with the Trucial States, which were sheikhdoms under British protection since 1820. Muscat courts' verdicts were based on Ibadi Islamic sharia law and appeals were raised to the Sultan of Muscat, who exercised supreme ruling.