Judgment Reviews Law at United Arab Emirates
The legal system of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a civil law system, with a three-tiered court structure designed to allow for the review and challenge of judicial decisions. The system is divided between a federal judiciary and independent judicial departments in some emirates, such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The Three-Tier Court System
The primary mechanism for challenging a judgment in the UAE is through a structured appeal process that moves from lower to higher courts.
Court of First Instance: This is where a case is initially filed and heard. The court's judgment is based on the facts and the application of the law.
Court of Appeal: If a party is dissatisfied with the judgment from the Court of First Instance, they have the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal. This court re-examines both the factual and legal aspects of the case. The appeal must be filed within a specific timeframe (e.g., 30 days for civil and commercial cases).
Court of Cassation: This is the highest judicial body in the UAE's federal system and in the independent emirates. Its role is not to re-examine the facts of a case, but to ensure that the law was correctly interpreted and applied by the lower courts. An appeal to the Court of Cassation is limited to points of law, such as a violation of the law or an error in its application. The time limit for filing a cassation appeal is typically 60 days from the date of the Court of Appeal's judgment.
Review of Final Judgments
In addition to the standard appeal process, UAE law, particularly under the Civil Procedure Law (Federal Law No. 11 of 1992) and its amendments, provides very specific and limited grounds for a review or "retraction" of an otherwise final judgment, even from the Court of Cassation. These grounds are exceptional and are designed to prevent miscarriages of justice. They include situations where:
Fraud or Forgery: A party committed fraud that influenced the judgment, or the judgment was based on forged documents or perjured testimony that was proven after the judgment was rendered.
New Evidence: A party obtains crucial documents after the judgment was issued, and the other litigant had prevented them from submitting these documents earlier.
Contradictory Judgments: The operative part of the judgment is self-contradictory.
Violation of Legal Principles: A judgment was issued in contradiction to established judicial principles of the court, without those principles being presented to it.
Procedural Errors: The judgment was rendered against a person who was not properly represented in the action.
An application for the retraction of a final judgment is a very specific and rare legal avenue. It is submitted to the same court that issued the judgment but is reviewed by a different, senior panel of judges. The process is not a simple re-hearing and requires strict adherence to the limited grounds specified in the law.
International Considerations
The UAE's legal system also has provisions for the enforcement of foreign judgments. With certain countries, such as India, the UAE has a "reciprocating territory" arrangement, which simplifies the enforcement of foreign judgments without a full re-examination of the underlying case. The UAE's courts, particularly the Court of Cassation, have emphasized the importance of international conventions and agreements, such as the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, which the UAE has ratified. This helps streamline the enforcement of foreign judgments and awards.
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