A rather remarkable development – upon which surprisingly little research has

focused – is occurring within a religious monarchy in the Middle East. In 2004,

the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) authorized one of its seven monarchal

provinces, the Emirate of Dubai, to pass Dubai Law No. 9 creating a global,

cosmopolitan business campus.1 Located within the heart of the downtown area,

the “DIFC” – or Dubai International Financial Centre – was established in order to

attract foreign investment and to make this emirate an international hub for

commercial transactions.2 The government touted Dubai’s geographic position in

the Gulf as a strategic advantage – a bridge for those working in South and East

Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Moreover, Dubai officials aspired to

an even larger vision: to have the DIFC eventually serve as the world’s leading

arena for major international business dealings.3

 

 

Dubai Law No. 9 outlined that there were to be three components to the

DIFC: a) an authorizing agency that would be the regulatory body overseeing

employment law, corporate law, commercial law, and real estate; b) a regulatory

agency that would oversee all financial matters involving the DIFC; and, most

interestingly, c) the DIFC common-law courts.4 The DIFC courts came into

existence in 2006 and for the first five years they served as an adjudicatory forum

for all commercial disputes within the DIFC. In 2011, following the passage of

the Dubai Law No. 16, the DIFC courts were granted jurisdiction over any

commercial matter (domestic or international) so long as all parties gave consent.5

 

 

This article will focus, in particular, on these DIFC courts. Dubai government

leaders (and DIFC officials specifically) have promoted the DIFC courts with

great enthusiasm. Western common law and legal principles, and the English

language are used, in order to make the DIFC courts accessible to international

legal and business professionals.6 Furthermore, the judges of the DIFC courts (on

both the first instance court and appellate court) are internationally respected.

(The current Chief Justice is Michael Hwang, an Oxford-educated former law

professor, and leading Singaporean lawyer who headed the litigation and

arbitration department of the firm Allen & Gledhill.7) The goal is to have the

DIFC judiciary be efficient, just, and legitimate. It is to serve as a haven – an

accessible Western-style judicial system within a highly centralized, Arab-Gulf

monarchy.8 The DIFC courts are a prime example of the complicated, nuanced,
and even ironic ramifications that can accompany globalization today.