The Normalization of Saudi Law
Published on 22. December 2022
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-0-19-009275-7 (ISBN)
Description
Saudi Arabia has never commanded more attention and yet it remains one of the world's least understood countries. In The Normalization of Saudi Law, Chibli Mallat dives into the heart of Saudi society, politics, and business by exploring the workings of its courts.
Legal practitioners and scholars will find a comprehensive analysis of the law's operation in the kingdom. The practitioner will access full thematic coverage of all important fields: judicial organization, contracts and torts, crime, family, property, administration, commerce, companies, banking, insolvency, the stock market, the constitution, succession, and human rights, with major statutes and a large number of court decisions distilled in 16 chapters. The scholar is presented with an assessment of a dynamic legal process, a 'normalization' of Saudi law where developing norms are both 'normal' (usual) and 'normative' (carrying moral force). This includes judges reshaping Islamic law by applying it in everyday transactions and disputes as they interpret classical treatises and modern statutes. In whole, The Normalization of Saudi Law paints a compelling picture of a fast-changing country.
The book is a systematic study of Saudi law over nearly a decade, and its analysis draws from Mallat's involvement as a legal expert in landmark decisions around the world and as a law professor in leading universities in the Middle East, Europe, and America. The book reflects his work with Saudi law students and practicing colleagues, from cases in commercial law to those involving government and human rights. The Normalization of Saudi Law will interest both readers following the fast-changing world of comparative law and those intrigued by Saudi Arabia.
Legal practitioners and scholars will find a comprehensive analysis of the law's operation in the kingdom. The practitioner will access full thematic coverage of all important fields: judicial organization, contracts and torts, crime, family, property, administration, commerce, companies, banking, insolvency, the stock market, the constitution, succession, and human rights, with major statutes and a large number of court decisions distilled in 16 chapters. The scholar is presented with an assessment of a dynamic legal process, a 'normalization' of Saudi law where developing norms are both 'normal' (usual) and 'normative' (carrying moral force). This includes judges reshaping Islamic law by applying it in everyday transactions and disputes as they interpret classical treatises and modern statutes. In whole, The Normalization of Saudi Law paints a compelling picture of a fast-changing country.
The book is a systematic study of Saudi law over nearly a decade, and its analysis draws from Mallat's involvement as a legal expert in landmark decisions around the world and as a law professor in leading universities in the Middle East, Europe, and America. The book reflects his work with Saudi law students and practicing colleagues, from cases in commercial law to those involving government and human rights. The Normalization of Saudi Law will interest both readers following the fast-changing world of comparative law and those intrigued by Saudi Arabia.
Reviews / Votes
"Chibli Mallat is the leading theoretician, indeed the founder, of a field of study on Middle East law. In The Normalization of Saudi Law, Professor Mallat turns his attention, with great erudition and brilliance, to the evolution of law in Saudi Arabia and finds, within a multitude of recent judicial rulings on contracts, property, the family, and the prosecution of crimes, the beginnings of a system of law. Always clear-eyed, Mallat fully appreciates that the absolutism of the Saudi monarchy and its failure to empower a national legislative assembly compromise whatever commitment to the rule of law that country possesses."-Owen Fiss, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale University "The Normalization of Saudi Law contains an illuminating discussion of the laws of Saudi Arabia. There is a masterly treatment of the fields of substantive Saudi law drawing from an analysis of civil, criminal, family, real property and commercial law. One novel feature is that Chibli Mallat discusses how Saudi judges apply the law in practice by reference to reported cases. It is of significance to legal scholars and practitioners alike and a welcome first of its kind."
-Michael Crystal QC "The Normalization of Saudi Law reveals an unprecedented field of work, that of Saudi law, based on the study of thousands of judgments. It facilitates an understanding of the current developments towards a "normalization" of Saudi law and shows, through the courts' application of justice, how Saudi society actually functions. It is an essential book, not only for the study of law, but for understanding present-day Saudi Arabia."
-Professor Henry Laurens, College de France
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
1
Dimensions
Height: 256 mm
Width: 184 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
975 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-009275-7 (9780190092757)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Chibli Mallat is the former EU Jean Monnet Professor of Law at the Universite Saint-Joseph, Beirut, and former Presidential Professor of Middle Eastern Law and Politics chair at the U. of Utah. He has also been Visiting Professor at Yale and Harvard law schools, Princeton University, and at the EHESS and the University of Lyon. In addition to his work in European law, he is a leading scholar of Islamic and Middle Eastern law, a legal practitioner, and a Former Director of the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern law at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London.
Content
Map, Charts, Figures
Preface
Acknowledgments
Table of Authorities
Map
Chapter 1. Introduction
PART ONE NORMS AND SOURCES
Chapter 2. The Epiphany of Saudi Law
Chapter 3. Blackletter Law. A Primer on Courts, Format, Evidence, Sources
PART TWO NORMS AS COMMON LAW
Chapter 4. Civil Law I Contracts
Chapter 5. Civil Law II Torts
Chapter 6. Criminal Law I Procedure and Hadd
Chapter 7. Criminal Law II: Ta'zir and "Everything Else"
Chapter 8. Family Law: The Saudi Hanbali Exception
PART THREE NORMALIZATION BY STATUTE
Chapter 9. Real Property
Chapter 10. Diwan Al- Mazalem: A Court for All Seasons
Chapter 11. From Diwan Al- Mazalem to Commercial Courts: A Unified Theory of Remedies
Chapter 12. Companies and Corporate Governance
Chapter 13. Insolvency, Banking, the Stock Market
PART FOUR THE LIMITS OF NORMALIZATION
Chapter 14. Constitutional Law
Chapter 15. Human Rights
Chapter 16. Epilogue
Bibliography
Preface
Acknowledgments
Table of Authorities
Map
Chapter 1. Introduction
PART ONE NORMS AND SOURCES
Chapter 2. The Epiphany of Saudi Law
Chapter 3. Blackletter Law. A Primer on Courts, Format, Evidence, Sources
PART TWO NORMS AS COMMON LAW
Chapter 4. Civil Law I Contracts
Chapter 5. Civil Law II Torts
Chapter 6. Criminal Law I Procedure and Hadd
Chapter 7. Criminal Law II: Ta'zir and "Everything Else"
Chapter 8. Family Law: The Saudi Hanbali Exception
PART THREE NORMALIZATION BY STATUTE
Chapter 9. Real Property
Chapter 10. Diwan Al- Mazalem: A Court for All Seasons
Chapter 11. From Diwan Al- Mazalem to Commercial Courts: A Unified Theory of Remedies
Chapter 12. Companies and Corporate Governance
Chapter 13. Insolvency, Banking, the Stock Market
PART FOUR THE LIMITS OF NORMALIZATION
Chapter 14. Constitutional Law
Chapter 15. Human Rights
Chapter 16. Epilogue
Bibliography