EGYPT Law and Practice Contributed by: Mohamed Osama, Hana Elbarbary and Hamza Shehata, Shehata & Partners
• Claims arising out of commercial papers have a statute of limitation of one to three years depending on the case at hand (Articles 465, 470 and 531 of the Trade Code). Despite the lapse of the statute of limitation for filing for a lawsuit, the holder of the cheque may, however, claim restitution of what was unduly enriched (Article 532 Trade law). • Taxes due to the state have a statute of limitation of five years (Article 377 of the Civil Code). • Liability of the architect and the contract have a decennial liability with respect to structural defects in buildings (Article 651 of the Civil Code). 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant The basic rule of territorial jurisdiction is that the plaintiff must summon the defendant before the court of the defendant’s domicile at the date when the action is brought (Article 49/1 of the Procedural Code). According to Egyptian law, the domicile is the place where the person usu- ally resides. If the defendant has more than one domicile, the plaintiff may choose any of the courts of the defendant’s domiciles. If the defendant has no domicile in Egypt they may be summoned before the court of their residence. If the defendant has neither a domicile nor a residence in Egypt, the plaintiff may refer the matter to the court of their domicile, or of their residence. If the plaintiff has neither a domicile in Egypt nor a residence, the jurisdiction would be for the court of Cairo. If the defendant is a juristic person, the jurisdic- tion will be for the court of its registered office. If the juristic person has branches, and the case concerns a certain branch, the jurisdiction is for the court of the place where the branch exists.
In case of several defendants, if the object of the claims against them are the same or connected, the plaintiff may refer the matter, at their choice, to the court of domicile of one of them, but if it appears from the circumstances that the case has been brought to a certain court in order to force one of the defendants into a court other than their domicile’s court, the court shall decline to entertain it. The rule actor sequitur forum rei has some exceptions, where the law finds another court more suitable to deal with the case. One of these exceptions, for example, is real property actions. In these actions, the court which has jurisdiction is that where the property or part of it is located. The same rule applies to actions concerning possession of real estate. If a case concerns more than one parcel of real property, the action may be brought in any place where any of the properties is located. This exception applies only to the action which has as its object real property or a possession of it; it does not apply in matters of leases for rent and rural leases. As for international jurisdiction rules, the Egyp- tian courts have jurisdiction of claims against Egyptian citizens even if they have no domicile or residence in Egypt. Further, Article 30 of the Procedural Code enu- merates the cases in which the Egyptian courts have jurisdiction for claims raised against a for- eigner who has neither domicile nor residence in Egypt. The most important instances are the following: • if the foreigner has an elected domicile in Egypt for the execution of a legal act; • if the case concerns a property located in Egypt or concerning an obligation started, executed or which has to be executed in
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