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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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United Arab Emirates
Index
Article 94 of the provisional constitution guarantees
the
independence of the judicial branch under the Supreme
Court of
the Union. This body consists of a president and up to
five
judges appointed by the UAE president, following approval
by the
SCU. The Supreme Court is vested with the power of
judicial
review and original jurisdiction over federal-amirate and
interamirate disputes. It also is empowered to try cases
of
official misconduct involving cabinet and other senior
federal
officials.
The provisional constitution also provides for the
establishment of union courts of first instance to
adjudicate
civil, commercial, criminal, and administrative cases.
Judgments
of these courts can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Local
courts in each of the seven amirates have jurisdiction
over
matters that the provisional constitution does not
specifically
reserve to the union courts.
The provisional constitution designates the sharia
(Islamic
law) as the basis of all legislation. Three of the four
legal
schools of Sunni Islam have adherents in the UAE. Most
citizens
follow the Maliki legal school, but a minority follow the
Hanbali
and Shafii schools. The
Twelver Imam (see Glossary)
legal school
of Shia Muslims also has adherents in the federation.
Data as of January 1993
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