Under the law then in force, an insurer's diya liability for a female victim was half that for a male

The principle

Diya (blood money) for death or bodily injury is governed by Islamic law under Article 1 of the Penal Code of 1987 and Law No. 3 of 1996, applying the Maliki school. The AED 200,000 figure in Law No. 17 of 1991 (as amended in 2003) only converts the full diya into money and does not make men and women equal: a woman's diya is half a man's. Separate diyas or fixed fractions are due for each lost bodily function; unspecified injuries attract a judicially assessed amount (حكومة عدل); compensation may not be added for harm already covered by diya.

The case and the decision

A father sued a motor insurer in the Al Ain civil court on behalf of his three-year-old daughter, who had been run down by an insured car in September 2011 and left with severe head and lung injuries, a fractured femur, hemiplegia, loss of bladder control and impaired speech. The driver had been convicted of causing injury by negligence. The courts below awarded full diyas equal to those of a man (AED 200,000 each for loss of bladder control and for the hemiplegia) plus AED 240,000 in compensation for the remaining injuries, and rejected the insurer's argument that the mother shared fault. On the insurer's appeal in cassation (No. 429 of 2012, civil), the question of a woman's diya was referred to the General Assembly because of conflicting decisions.

The General Assembly held that, under Article 1 of the Penal Code (Federal Law No. 3 of 1987), offences of hudud, qisas and diya are governed by Islamic law, and Law No. 3 of 1996 on the jurisdiction of Sharia courts confirms this; Articles 1 and 2 of the Civil Transactions Law direct the judge to Islamic law, preferring the Maliki and Hanbali schools, where no text applies. Law No. 17 of 1991, as amended by Law No. 9 of 2003, setting the diya for a person killed by mistake at AED 200,000, merely converts the full diya into currency and does not equalise men and women. A woman's diya is half that of a man. Applying Maliki authorities, each lost function carries its own diya or fixed fraction, and compensation cannot be combined with diya for the same harm. The General Assembly confirmed the principle in criminal appeal 81 of 2013, upheld the finding that the driver's fault absorbed any fault of the mother, partly quashed the judgment and recalculated the award at AED 416,334.

Laws applied

In the court’s words

“بإقرار المبدأ الصادر في الطعن رقم 81 لسنة 2013 جزائي الصادر بتاريخ 26/3/2013 عن الدائرة الجزائية الأولى بمحكمة النقض المتضمن أن دية المرأة على النصف من دية الرجل”

Short quotation from the judgment as published by the court. The full judgment is on the court’s official service.

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