Procedures
Civil-law federal courts alongside common-law courts in the free zones
The onshore courts apply the Civil Transactions Law in Arabic. The DIFC and ADGM operate independent English-language common-law courts with their own procedure inside the same country.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Federal courts, plus the separate Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah judiciaries, plus the DIFC and ADGM common-law courts. Which forum applies is a threshold question in almost every UAE dispute.
- Deadline — 30 days to appeal a civil judgment to the Court of Appeal
- Deadline — 60 days to appeal to the Court of Cassation
Governing law
- Civil Transactions Law, Federal Law 5 of 1985, replaced by Federal Decree-Law 41 of 2022
- Civil Procedure Law, Federal Decree-Law 42 of 2022
- DIFC Court Law 2004DIFC Law 10 of 2004
- ADGM Courts, Civil Evidence, Judgments and Enforcement Regulations 2015
In practice
The free zone courts are not arbitral tribunals or specialist panels; they are courts applying their own common law, in English, with their own judges recruited from common-law jurisdictions, and their judgments are enforceable through the onshore system under protocols. This makes forum the first substantive issue in UAE litigation rather than a procedural preliminary. Onshore, proceedings are documentary and in Arabic, oral cross-examination is limited, and court-appointed experts carry very substantial weight, so the practical shape of a case differs sharply from the common-law experience even before the applicable law is considered.