The Law of the Dubai International Financial Centre: Common Law Oasis or Mirage Within the UAE?

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Carballo

AbstractDespite the increasing trends towards a reassertion of Shari'a within the Arab world, the Emirate of Dubai has recently created a world-class financial hub, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). DIFC is under an independent, common law-based, parallel legal system (outside the Dubai and the UAE federal legal systems) which is backed by an independent judicial system. However, there are still certain hindrances, such as the financial dependence of the DIFC courts and the harmful requirement (controlled by the Dubai judge) of "appropriate for enforcement" of DIFC decisions seeking outside enforcement.Furthermore, although DIFC legislation allows the application of a Shari'a-based national legislation (except for any provision contrary to any mandatory rule of a law in force in the DIFC), problems arise regarding the application of a-national Shari'a principles, mainly in Islamic Finance. Will common law oriented DIFC courts refer to recent British cases? In any case, it must be stated that even in the very unlikely situation of a challenge against DIFC laws on grounds of unconstitutionality (for being contrary to Art. 7), the pro-commercial approach of the Constitutional Chamber of the UAE Supreme Court, leads to conclude that no DIFC law would be strike down.

Author(s):  
Sayyid Mohammad Yunus Gilani ◽  
K. M. Zakir Hossain Shalim

AbstractForensic evidence is an evolving science in the field of criminal investigation and prosecutions. It has been widely used in the administration of justice in the courts and the Western legal system, particularly in common law. To accommodate this new method of evidence in Islamic law, this article firstly, conceptualizes forensic evidence in Islamic law.  Secondly, explores legal frameworks for its adoption in Islamic law. Keywords: Forensic Evidence, legal framework, Criminal Investigation, Sharīʿah.AbstrakBukti forensik adalah sains yang sentiasa berkembang dalam bidang siasatan jenayah dan pendakwaan. Ia telah digunakan secara meluas dalam pentadbiran keadilan di mahkamah dan sistem undang-undang Barat, terutamanya dalam undang-undang common (common law). Untuk menampung kaedah pembuktian baru ini dalam undang-undang Islam, artikel ini, pertamanya, konseptualisasikan bukti forensik dalam undang-undang Islam. Kedua, ia menerokai rangka kerja undang-undang untuk penerimaannya dalam undang-undang Islam.Kata Kunci: Bukti Forensik, Rangka Kerja Guaman, Siasatan Jenayah, Sharīʿah.


2011 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Dedek

Every legal system that ties judicial decision making to a body of preconceived norms has to face the tension between the normative formulation of the ideal and its approximation in social reality. In the parlance of the common law, it is, more concretely, the remedy that bridges the gap between the ideal and the real, or, rather, between norms and facts. In the common law world—particularly in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth—a lively discourse has developed around the question of how rights relate to remedies. To the civilian legal scholar—used to thinking within a framework that strictly categorizes terms like substance and procedure, subjective right, action, and execution—the concept of remedy remains a mystery. The lack of “remedy” in the vocabulary of the civil law is more than just a matter of attaching different labels to functional equivalents, it is the expression of a different way of thinking about law. Only if a legal system is capable of satisfactorily transposing the abstract discourse of the law into social reality does the legal machinery fulfill its purpose: due to the pivotal importance of this translational process, the way it is cast in legal concepts thus allows for an insight into the deep structure of a legal culture, and, convergence notwithstanding, the remaining epistemological differences between the legal traditions of the West. A mixed jurisdiction must reflect upon these differences in order to understand its own condition and to define its future course.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-369
Author(s):  
Rihab Grassa

AbstractPrevious studies on financial development have shown that differences in the legal origin explain differences in financial development. Using historical comparisons and cross-country regressions for 40 countries observed for the period from 2005 to 2018, our research assesses how different legal origins have affected the development of Islamic finance worldwide. More particularly, our research assesses empirically why and how the adoption of Shari’a, wholly or partially (combined with common or civil law), could explain the level of development of Islamic finance in different jurisdictions. Our primary results show that countries adopting a Shari’a legal system have a very well-developed Islamic financial system. Moreover, countries adopting a mixed legal system based on common law and Shari’a law have sufficient flexibility within their legal systems to make changes to their laws in response to the changing socioeconomic conditions, and this has helped the development of the Islamic financial industry. However, countries adopting a mixed legal system based on both civil law and Shari’a law appear less flexible in making changes to their old laws and this thwarted the development of the Islamic financial industry in these countries. Furthermore, we have found that the concentration of a Muslim population (the percentage of Muslim population) along with the level of income have both had a positive effect on the development of Islamic banking assets and on the development of Islamic banking as a whole.


1995 ◽  
Vol 21 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 281-300
Author(s):  
Jody Weisberg Menon

Pleas for reform of the legal system are common. One area of the legal system which has drawn considerable scholarly attention is the jury system. Courts often employ juries as fact-finders in civil cases according to the Seventh Amendment of the Constitution: “In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved … .” The general theory behind the use of juries is that they are the most capable fact-finders and the bestsuited tribunal for arriving at the most accurate and just outcomes. This idea, however, has been under attack, particularly by those who claim that cases involving certain difficult issues or types of evidence are an inappropriate province for lay jurors who typically have no special background or experience from which to make informed, fair decisions.The legal system uses expert witnesses to assist triers of fact in understanding issues which are beyond their common knowledge or difficult to comprehend.


Global Jurist ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Terranova

AbstractLegal transplants are considered a significant factor in the evolution of legal systems. One example of transplant of a legal institution through its prestige is the diffusion of the trust from the English legal system to other common law systems and to many civil law countries. One of these is China that in 2001 enacted the Trust Law of the People’s Republic of China. This paper wants to analyse the trust under the Trust Law and to compare it with the original model in the English legal system, understanding how far or how close it is from the original one.


2021 ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Lev A. Lazutin

The article is devoted to the interaction of domestic and international legal norms on human rights and the application of the latter in national legislation. The author comes to the conclusion that there are a number of problems in the implementation of international legal norms on human rights in the Russian legal system.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-50
Author(s):  
Poku Adusei

This article provides comprehensive insights into the study of the Ghana legal system as an academic discipline in the law faculties in Ghana. It urges the view that the study of the Ghana legal system, as an academic discipline, should be transsystemic. Transsystemic pedagogy consists in the introduction of ideas, structures and principles which may be drawn from different legal traditions such as civil law, common law, religion-based law, African law and socialist law traditions to influence the study of law. Transsystemia involves teaching law ‘across,’ ‘through,’ and ‘beyond’ disciplinary fixations associated with a particular legal system. It is a mode of scholarship that defies biased allegiance to one legal tradition in order to foster cross-cultural dialogue among legal traditions. It involves a study of law that re-directs focus from one concerned with ‘pure’ legal system to a discourse that is grounded on multiple legal traditions.


Author(s):  
Nan Gong ◽  
I. I. Fedorov

The formation of the Russian procedural legal system is closely connected with its unique historical evolution. Russian Russian culture According to the Norman theory of the origin of the Russian nation, the Scandinavian culture is the most important source of early Russian culture. During the chaotic period of the tribe at the stage of primitive society, the Norman Varian was invited to Russia to reconcile the tribes of Russia and manage them, and this brought the Germanic custom to regulate the socio-economic and legal relations of various tribes. Since the formation of the ancient state of Russia, the ruling class has constantly strengthened the drafting of new laws and regulations, but customary law still dominates the legal system of the state. At the same time, ordinary norms in the system of customary law as a quasi-legal norm between morality and law have become an integral organic component of social customs and norms at all stages of Russian social development.During the period of Ancient Russia, the common custom of the Slavic people and the Norman Customary Law had a profound impact on the social life of ancient Russia. From the beginning of the 9th to the 17th century, customary law existed as the main legal source for regulating social relations in the late period of the development of Russian primitive society and in the earlier time of feudal society. His coercive force was based on the conviction that was widespread in the social community during this period, that is, "existing customs denote a reasonable basis". With the formation of the East Slavic state, the rulers began to work on drafting new legal norms, but inheritance is still mainly based on customs based on the clan system. As a result, as a rule of conduct recognized and guaranteed by the state, traditional customs gradually acquired a legal nature, and after that, positive law was formed. "Russkaya Pravda" is the most representative legal collection in the early years of the Russian feudal society, "The Truth of Ross", which was compiled according to the customs of the Eastern Slavs, and is the very fi rst positive law of ancient Russia.Before the appearance of formal law, customary law always played a role and coercive force as legislation, but the self-defense and insane methods of revenge obtained from it also caused social unrest. In order to stop personal self-defense and self-arbitrariness, as well as to strengthen ties between different regions, it is necessary to use the power of common law to unite the Principality into a whole. Although the new law does not exclude the original good customary norms, if there are no necessary penalties for violations, it will be destructive for the law. Therefore, it is necessary to give customary law a legal meaning and a compelling force, without changing the existing content of customary law.I must say that the German customs and the traditional customs of the Slavic people are intertwined in the historical codifi cation of Russian procedural law, forming a unique historical path of development of the procedural legal system of ancient Russia. Although national customs were recognized by the state in the form of positive law with the help of " Russian Truth”, and became the norm of justice and social norm on the basis of the guarantee of national coercive force, but this did not change the essence of customary law, but the form of positive law was given to it. As the modernization of the Russian judicial system moves into modern times, generations of legislators and lawyers are focusing on the study of national legal traditions and history, trying to discover the natural laws governing the development of the Russian legal system, and are constantly trying to make progress in the modern and modern process of judicial reform. The harmony of legislation, the borrowing of laws and national customs to a certain extent ensured a reasonable adjustment of national laws and norms of customary law.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91
Author(s):  
Ilham Mujahid

There are three elements examined in this article, namely: legal transformation, Islamic law, and compilation of Islamic law. Legal transformation is a change of law from a legal system to another legal system with characteristics that are not the same so that it changes shape, nature and substance.  Islamic law question is the dimension of marriage fiqh which is transferred to the Compilation of Islamic Law, with the process of national legislation. The substance of Jurisprudence about the prohibition of marrying expert women of the Book from the books of Jurisprudence became the focus of the study, then traced how the transformation process into the Compilation of Islamic Law Article 40 letter (c).


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Farihan Aulia ◽  
Sholahuddin Al-Fatih

The legal system or commonly referred to as the legal tradition, has a wealth of scientific treasures that can be examined in more depth through a holistic and comprehensive comparative process. Exactly, the comparison of the legal system must accommodate at least three legal systems that are widely used by countries in the world today. The three legal systems are the Continental European legal system, Anglo American and Islamic Law. The comparative study of the three types of legal systems found that the history of the Continental European legal system is divided into 6 phases, while Anglo American legal history began in the feudalistic era of England until it developed into America and continues to be studied until now. Meanwhile, the history of Islamic law is divided into 5 phases, starting from the Phase of the Prophet Muhammad to the Resurrection Phase (19th century until nowadays). In addition to history, the authors find that the Continental European legal system has the characteristic of anti-formalism thinking, while the Anglo American legal thinking characteristic tends to be formalism and is based on a relatively primitive mindset. While the thinking character of Islamic Law is much influenced by the thought of the fuqoha (fiqh experts) in determining the law to solve a problem, so relatively dynamic and moderate.


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