Dubai
Legal System
Court System
The court system throughout United Arab Emirates in general and Dubai in partial in essence is a civil law jurisdiction that has been strongly influenced by French, Roman, Egyptian and Islamic law. Civil law, also called Continental law or Romano-Germanic law, is the most prevalent legal system in the world. The main difference between civil and common law is that that common law draws abstract rules from specific cases, whereas civil law starts with abstract rules, which judges must then apply to the various cases before them. In other words, historically speaking, common law is based upon traditions and laws are codified following court rulings. On the other hand, in the case of civil law, laws are first codified and then applied.
In general common law principles, including adopting previous court judgments as legal precedents not recognized. Nevertheless, judgments delivered by higher courts are usually applied by lower courts.
Only local firms have the right to appear as counsel before a court.
In recent years, as the UAE has established itself as a regional hub for international business, arbitration has slowly become a popular method of dispute resolution.
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Latest news
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Borse Dubai says would consider Qatar bid for LSE (Reuters)
Yahoo! Finance: Diversified Investments Industry News, 17-February-2008Borse Dubai said on Sunday it would consider selling a stake in the London Stock Exchange Group to Qatar, but had not received any approaches and was unlikely to sell any stake in the short term.
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LA law firm to open office in Qatar - Gulf Times
Google News - Dubai, 17-February-2008
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LA law firm to open office in Qatar
Gulf Times, Qatar - 40 minutes ago
By Lindsay Fortado LATHAM & WATKINS, the Los Angeles-based law firm with 2100 attorneys, will open its first offices in the Middle East in Doha, Dubai and ... -
Foreign guards in Iraq work in legal grey area - Reuters
Google News - Dubai, 17-February-2008
[full story]
Foreign guards in Iraq work in legal grey area
Reuters - 4 hours ago
By Lin Noueihed DUBAI (Reuters) - Foreign private security companies in Iraq are operating in a legal grey area that means their victims have little ...