UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Amir Alkhaja, Gerry Rogers, Daria Selivanova and Danila Kriuchkov, Habib Al Mulla & Partners
1. Legal System 1.1 Legal System and Judicial Order The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a mixed legal system rooted in civil law traditions and Islamic Sharia principles. The UAE is a fed - eration of seven Emirates. Federal laws apply nationwide unless a particular Emirate opts out through its own legislation. Most legislation in the UAE is codified (influenced by Egyptian and French civil codes) and Sharia law particularly governs family and personal status matters. The UAE Constitution declares Islam as the official religion and Islamic Sharia as a main source of legislation. The UAE has over 40 economic free zones, each governed by its own free zone authority. Free zones are special economic areas where com - panies enjoy 100% foreign ownership, customs exemptions and streamlined licensing proce - dures. Free zone companies are governed by the laws and regulations of the relevant free zone authority, in addition to applicable UAE federal laws in areas such as immigration, criminal law and certain aspects of taxation. In the past decade, the UAE has introduced ele - ments of common law within special jurisdic - tions, notably the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), which operate English-language com - mon law courts for civil and commercial matters inside those financial free zones. Both DIFC and ADGM: • have their own commercial and civil laws, modelled largely on English law; • operate independent courts (DIFC Courts and ADGM Courts), using English as the official language; and
• are exempt from most UAE federal civil and commercial laws, but remain subject to UAE criminal law, immigration law and certain regulatory matters. Federal laws, including the Civil Transactions Law and Commercial Companies Law, apply outside financial free zones. In free zones, fed - eral law applies where the free zone regulations are silent or in areas of public law, including labour, tax (where applicable) and anti-money laundering compliance. Offshore companies, often established in juris - dictions like Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA Off - shore) or Ras Al Khaimah International Corporate Centre (RAK ICC), are designed for international structuring and asset holding, and are not per - mitted to conduct business within the UAE main - land. The UAE judiciary is organised in three levels of courts: Courts of First Instance, Courts of Appeal, and Courts of Cassation (or the Fed - eral Supreme Court at the federal level). Fed - eral courts have jurisdiction in most Emirates. However, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah maintain independent local judicial systems with their own Courts of Cassation as final appellate courts. In other Emirates, the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi is the highest court. There is no system of binding precedent as in common law. UAE judges apply the codified laws, and in the absence of a provision may refer to Sharia or general principles. Proceedings are conducted in Arabic (with court-provided translators for non-Arabic speakers). The DIFC and ADGM have autonomous court systems (using common law and international judges) for disputes arising within those free zones or by opt-in. Their judgments are generally
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