GAR Know How Litigation: United Arab Emirates

This is an extract from GAR's Litigation Know-how.

Overview

Describe the general organisation of the court system for civil litigation.

Onshore jurisdiction

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) legal structure has two systems - the Federal Judiciary (controlled by the Federal Supreme Court) and the local judicial departments at the local government level. Each of the Emirates is able to choose which one of the two systems to operate under.

Articles 94 to 109 of the UAE Constitution generally govern these two systems but the detail of certain principles is left to the discretion of local judicial authorities.

Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah uphold their own judicial systems independently from the federal court system and therefore are not overseen by the UAE Supreme Court (save for certain jurisdictional disputes or where there is a dispute between the Emirates themselves). The Emirates of Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain operate under the