UAE Judiciary
The UAE is a federation established in 1971 and
comprised of seven Emirates namely; Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al
Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, Ajman and Fujairah. The Constitution first
written in 1971 and reaffirmed several times since then declares the
Shari’a to be a principal source for law in the UAE. However, it is
correct to say that the UAE is essentially a civil law jurisdiction
heavily influenced by the Egyptian law system which has its sources in
French and Roman law. Common law principles are generally not adopted
or recognised, although judgements delivered by higher courts are
usually applied by lower courts.
The UAE Constitution has a certain distribution of
legislative powers between the federation and the local Emirates.
According to the Constitution, there are certain matters that are
vested exclusively to the federation in enactment and in implementation
while there are matters that the federation has exclusive powers to
legislate on while the implementation is left to each Emirate. The
federal laws have supremacy over the Emirates’ laws. However, each
Emirate is permitted to issue its own legislation in matters that are
not confined to the federation and also in matters that are confined to
the federation so long as the federation has not exercised its
legislative powers in that particular area.
The Emirates were given the constitutional right
to opt for joining the Federal judicial system or to maintain their own
independent system. Except for Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah who maintain
their own judicial systems, the other Emirates have joined the Federal
system.
The UAE has then two court systems; the federal
system and the local system. The federal court system consists of three
levels being the courts of first instance, courts of appeal and the
Supreme Court. The Emirates that have maintained their own independent
courts have initially based their court system on a two - tier
structure while on the federal level it is a three - tier system. The
Emirate of Dubai created a further tier by establishing the Court of
Cassation in addition to its courts of First instance and appeal. The
Supreme Court located in Abu Dhabi, serves as the final court of appeal
for all cases heard in the lower courts and is also empowered to
adjudicate any disputes between courts in the individual Emirates. In
addition, the Court of Cassation is the body empowered to determine the
constitutionality of laws, including statutes promulgated at both the
local and federal levels. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction to
investigate misconduct by high government officials and to try offences
against the Federation. The UAE courts, whether federal or local,
similarly to courts in most of the countries in the area, are organised
to form two main divisions; civil and criminal. The establishment of
the civil and criminal courts resulted in diminishing the role of the
Sharia’a Courts except for matters related to personal status issues
which are to be dealt with in accordance with the Islamic Sharia’a and
before the Sharia’s courts.
The UAE remains unusual for the Arab world because of its federal structure which gives it a fairly complex judicial structure.