Description
Book SynopsisSaudi 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.
Trade Review<"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
Table of ContentsMap, 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
