Saudi Law: An Overview
Saudi law was greatly influenced and impacted by the discovery of oil in Saudi and its subsequent generation of vast wealth. It led to rapid urbanization, reforms, and anwalt erbrecht modernization of Saudi Arabia. This greatly affected the traditional culture and values of the Kingdom.
The law of Saudi is based primarily in Shari’ah, acting as the umbrella law to all promulgated and enacted laws in Saudi Arabia. However, Shari’ah is not codified and there is no system of judicial precedent. This means that interpretation of the law lies solely on the judge deciding on a legal question or case.
Promulgation and Legislation
The promulgation of law and regulations come in the form of Royal Orders, Royal Decrees, and regulations. The king of Saudi Arabia, without any intervention of any third parties, directly issues royal orders. That power and authority comes with a monarchial form of government. Royal decrees, on the other hand, are those deliberated upon by the Saudi Council of Ministers and later signed by the King for approval.
Culture
Saudi Arabia has a sensitive and conservative culture and religion. Moreover, it is kept preserved with the observance of the laws that are inspired by religion and tradition. Prior to the legal reforms that were introduced to the Kingdom, only family law, inheritance law and criminal law are covered by the provisions of the religious law, and “Sunna”, which are traditions or habitual practices.
Scope
Because of the limited scope of Shari’ah and its restrictive application to modern topics, royal decrees and orders were issued to supplement it in areas such as investment, corporate, commercial, and labor. The law and regulations that are issued and promulgated must never contravene with the provisions and teachings of Shari’a