Justice and Policing in the United Arab Emirates Essay

Justice and Policing in the United Arab Emirates - Essay Example The United Arab Emirates is known to have liberal laws compared to other Arabic states. This is evident due to the fact that, women can drive and they allow people to take alcohol. In most Arab countries it is a criminal offence to drink alcohol and women are so inferior that they cannot drive. There is a dual court system, Sharia or Islamic laws and the civil law, this is also not found in other Arab countries. The Islamic courts take charge of matters relating to: family issues. The sharia law only applies when both the plaintiff and the defendant are Muslims. The civil courts are responsible for matters related to commercial, criminal or civil. The civil courts can cater for cases that involve the plaintiff and the defendant, both being Muslims, non-Muslims or a Muslim and a non-Muslim. Sharia is applied first and, if evidence required by Sharia is found insufficient, the Penal Code is used.There is an extralegal requirement for the approval of the release of every prisoner whose sentence has been completed. Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah do not conform to the federal court system that is subjected to all the other members of the United Arab Emirates. The Supreme Court that was established and the federal council had well laid structures that define their relationship. This clearly made the Supreme Court to be the final court since all decisions made by the Federal Council have to be approved by the Supreme Court for them to be the final decision