Judiciary of Egypt

Starting in 1875, Egypt established National Courts and Mixed Courts, following the model of European judiciaries. The Egyptian judicial institution that existed in the mid 19th century was characterized by the following: • Courts at that time were not entirely national, but rather there were courts for foreigners known as "consular courts". • The judicial authority at that time was not the only authority entrusted with giving rulings on disputes, but rather there was another system that had enabled members of the executive authority to issue rulings in certain cases. • Abandonment of the unified judicial system that had existed since the Ottoman rule of Egypt. During the Ottoman era, the judiciary power was undertaken by one person known as the Chief Justice, who was assisted by four deputies representing the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence: Hanafi, Shafie, Maleki and Hanbali. During Mohamed Ali's reign of Egypt and his endeavor to build a modern Egyptian state, two significant developments took place in Egypt, leading to the existence of various bodies of civil judiciary in the country. == Criminal code ==

Egypt based its criminal codes and court operations primarily on British, Italian, and Napoleonic models. Criminal court procedures had been substantially modified by the heritage of Islamic legal and social patterns and the legacy of numerous kinds of courts that formerly existed. The divergent sources and philosophical origins of these laws and the inapplicability of many borrowed Western legal concepts occasioned difficulties in administering Egyptian law. The criminal code listed three main categories of crime: contraventions (minor offenses), misdemeanors (offenses punishable by imprisonment or fines), and felonies (offenses punishable by penal servitude or death). Lower courts handled the majority of the cases that reached adjudication and levied fines in about nine out of ten cases. At their discretion, courts could suspend fines or imprisonment (when a sentence did not exceed one year). Capital crimes that carried a possible death sentence included murder, manslaughter occurring in the commission of a felony, arson or the use of explosives that caused death, rape, treason, and endangerment of state security. Few convictions for capital crimes, however, resulted in execution. Egypt's laws require that a detained person be brought before a magistrate and formally charged within forty-eight hours or released. An accused is entitled to post bail and had the right to be defended by legal counsel. The Emergency Law of 1958 outlined special judicial procedures for some cases. The law enabled authorities to circumvent the increasingly independent regular court system in cases where people were charged with endangering state security. The law applied primarily to Islamic radicals but also covered leftists suspected of political violence, drug smugglers, and illegal currency dealers. It also allowed detention of striking workers, pro-Palestinian student demonstrators, and relatives of fugitives. The Emergency Law of 1958 authorized the judicial system to detain people without charging them or guaranteeing them due process while an investigation was under way. After thirty days, a detainee could petition the State Security Court to review the case. If the court ordered the detainee's release, the minister of interior had fifteen days to object. If the minister overruled the court's decision, the detainee could petition another State Security Court for release after thirty more days. If the second court supported the detainee's petition, it released the detainee. The minister of interior could, however, simply re-arrest the detainee. The government commonly engaged in this practice in cases involving Islamic extremists. == Civil code ==

The Egyptian Civil Code is the prime source of civil law, and has been the source of law and inspiration for numerous other Middle Eastern jurisdictions, including pre-dictatorship Libya and Iraq as well as Qatar. Egypt's Civil Code governs "the areas of personal rights, contracts, obligations, and torts." According to EgyptJustice.com, "due to the long court litigation delays caused by a crushing (and steadily growing) backlog of civil cases, plus weak mechanism for enforcing court judgments, large commercial disputes are often resolved through arbitration, as governed by the Arbitration Law (Law 27 of 1994)." The law has been criticized by the Institution of Freedom of Thought and Expression and the Supreme Council for the Press for violating provisions of the Egyptian Constitution, which state, "Freedom of thought and opinion is guaranteed. Every person has the right to express his opinion verbally, in writing, through imagery, or by any other means of expression and publication," == Arbitration==

According to Mohamed Samy E. Abdel Wahab, a leading Egyptian and international legal scholar and arbitration expert, "arbitration has established itself as a prominent method for resolving business, commercial, and investment disputes" in Egypt, based on 'Arbitration Law No.27 of the Year 1994'. Egyptian courts are "generally arbitration friendly" with judges "generally" accepting and supporting arbitral proceedings. == Courts ==

The Judiciary of Egypt consists of administrative and non-administrative courts, a Supreme Constitutional Court, penal courts, civil and commercial courts, personal status and family courts, national security courts, labour courts, military courts, and other specialized courts or circuits. References : An Approach to Legal English & Terminology – DR.Mostafa El-Morshedy ==See also==