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Print articleUnited Arab Emirates - Types of Dispute Resolution
August, 2008 - Casipillai Chakradaran,
Commercial disputes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are generally resolved through litigation in the courts or arbitration. Arbitration is becoming an increasingly popular way to resolve disputes. The UAE recently signed the UN Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958 (New York Convention).
General overview and court structure
The UAE is a federation of seven Emirates established in 1971. All the member Emirates, except for Dubai and Ras Al Kaimah, are part of a federal judicial system. Dubai and Ras Al Kaimah have independent judicial systems. In all of the Emirates except Ras Al Khaimah, the court system consists of the following three tiers:Court of First Instance.
Court of Appeal.
Court of Cassation.
Ras Al Khaimah has only the Court of First Instance and Court of Appeal.
The legal system The current legal system in the UAE is based on the Constitution of the United Arab Emirates, 1971 (as amended) (Constitution). The UAE has sovereignty in all matters assigned to it under the Constitution. The individual member Emirates have sovereignty over their own territories in all matters not in the exclusive jurisdiction of the UAE, as set out in the Constitution. In addition, each Emirate has a hereditary ruler who exercises considerable sovereignty over his own Emirate. The seven rulers, as members of the Supreme Council, collectively exercise sovereignty over the Union. Despite each ruler’s individual authority, there has developed a growing awareness of the practical need to operate as a sovereign state. As a result, in its relatively short history, the UAE has developed into a sovereign state more closely knit today than when it originally came into existence.The Constitution provides, among other things, that in the UAE:
Islam is the official religion.
The
Shari’a is a main source of legislation.Arabic is the official language of the UAE (
Article 7, Constitution).The shari’a The Shari’a, in its broad sense, is a body of religious, ethical and legal rules. The fundamental roots of Islamic Shari’a are: The Koran. This is a collection of divinely ordained rules. The sunna. This consists of the precepts and sayings of the Prophet (Hadith), and an account of his actions.
There are supplementary sources of Islamic
Civil law system
The UAE operates under a civil law system, and statutes are the primary source of law. There is no doctrine of binding precedent, and judgments of the higher courts are not binding on the lower courts (although they can be a useful guide as to how a court may react in cases with similar issues in dispute). Each case is decided on its own merits and facts.All court proceedings are in the Arabic language. All non-Arabic language documents filed in court by the litigants must be translated into Arabic by a translator licensed by the Ministry of Justice.
The dubai international financial Centre (difC) In addition to the above judicial systems, the DIFC has its own body of laws, with an independent judicial authority and courts which deal with matters arising in the DIFC. The DIFC courts and procedures are not covered in this chapter.
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