Justice System in the United Arab Emirates - Research Paper Example

The United Arab Emirates includes 7 states or emirates, the most famous of which is the oil-rich nation of Abu Dhabi rated as one of the world’s “richest cities by Fortune in 2007, and Dubai” (Latheef par 1) the profitable center of the Middle East. Every constituent state of Emirates, except for Ras Al Khaimah and Dubai, is part of a federal judicial system and both of them have self-governing judicial systems. In each Emirate, the court system includes the “Court of Appeal, Court of First Instance, and Court of Cassation” (Judicial System in Abu Dhabi par 13) on the other hand, Ras Al Khaimah does not have a Court of Cassation. The major source of law is legislation.

The Justice system:
The Justice system in the UAE is mainly based on the Constitution of the UAE 1971 (Constitution). The federation has control over all affairs assigned to it in the Constitution. Each individual member of the United Emirates has power over their own territories in all matters rather than just the exclusive authority of the federation, as set out in the UAE Constitution. Additionally, every Emirate has a hereditary sovereign who exercises substantial control over his own Emirate. The 7 rulers, as members or associates of the Supreme Council, jointly exercise control over the UAE. The Sharia civil law systems are the chief sources of legislation (Constitution).

Civil law system:
The UAE functions in civil law statutes and such systems are the primary source of law. Decisions of the high courts in the UAE are not based on any decisions made by low courts. “In litigation matters, the pleadings submitted by the parties - plaints or written statements - play a determining role as the courts generally decide cases based upon them” (Latheef par 4).

Every case is discussed and a decision is reached based on its own facts and merits. Every proceeding in the court is in Arabic. All Non-Arabic documents filed in the court by appellants are to be converted into Arabic by a translator licensed by the Ministry of Justice.

The Sharia:
Generally, Sharia is a body of ethical, religious, and legal rules. The fundamental and basic roots of Islamic Sharia are:
• The Koran which is a compilation of divinely ordained policies.
• The Sunna includes the teachings of the Prophet (Hadith), as well as an account of his proceeding and actions.

Sharia is established on well-known concepts of equity and justice, and its practical effect in commercial matters is frequently the same as would be attained in Western law. “To say that the Shari’a should govern judicial decisions is to refer to a process rather than to specify a result. Shari’a itself includes different schools of thought on a number of legal issues. However, it is founded on familiar concepts of justice and equity, and the practical result in commercial matters is often, though not always, the same as would be reached under Western jurisprudence” (United Arab Emirates par 257).

For example, Sharia strives to provide effect to the party’s intention in matters of contract. On the other hand, the intention of the party may be a different way construed by jurists in the two systems. For instance, one researcher has argued convincingly that in many cases traditional Sharia would let go of the parties with an agreement from performance for causes of changed frustration or circumstances of purpose, where English law would connect the parties to their contract.