Civil law: UAE legislation

Federal Decree-Law No. (25) of 2025 Promulgating the Civil Transactions Law

The new UAE Civil Code, in force from 1 June 2026: it repeals the 1985 law and re-enacts the rules on persons, property, obligations, contracts, harmful acts and conflict of laws, lowers the age of majority to 18 Gregorian years, adds pre-contract disclosure duties and framework agreements, updates sale and latent-defect remedies and modernises single-person, non-profit and professional company provisions.

Federal Decree-Law No. (35) of 2022 Promulgating the Law of Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions

Sets the rules of proof in civil and commercial disputes: official and customary written instruments, electronic records and signatures, witness testimony, oaths, expert evidence, inspection and presumptions, gives remote evidentiary proceedings the same force as in-person ones and admits certain evidence obtained abroad; it replaced Federal Law No. 10 of 1992.

Federal Decree-Law No. (42) of 2022 Promulgating the Civil Procedure Code

Governs civil and commercial litigation before the onshore federal and local courts: jurisdiction, service of process including electronic service, pleadings and hearings, payment orders, judgments, appeals and cassation, and the enforcement of domestic and foreign judgments and awards; it replaced Federal Law No. 11 of 1992 and the portal records one subsequent amendment.

Federal Law No. (5) of 1985 Concerning the Issuance of the Civil Transactions Law of the United Arab Emirates

The UAE Civil Code of 1985, for forty years the general law of persons, property, obligations, contracts, torts and conflict of laws, with its Book One on personal obligations; repealed by Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, which replaced it with a new Civil Transactions Law from 1 June 2026.

ADGM Application of English Law Regulations 2015

The regulation that applies English common law, including the rules of equity, directly in ADGM as it stands from time to time, and makes a schedule of English civil statutes applicable in the zone, subject to ADGM's own regulations. The consolidated text is published in the ADGM rulebook hosted by Thomson Reuters.

Law of Obligations, DIFC Law No. 5 of 2005

Codifies the DIFC's non-contractual obligations: negligence and other torts, misrepresentation, breach of confidence, agency, bailment, fiduciary duties and unjust enrichment, providing the common-law style framework that fills the gaps left by the Contract Law. Consolidated to 2024.

Contract Law, DIFC Law No. 6 of 2004

The DIFC's general law of contract, modelled on international principles: formation, validity, interpretation, performance, non-performance and remedies for contracts governed by DIFC law, read together with the Implied Terms in Contracts and Unfair Terms Law 2005. Consolidated to 2024.