12/10/2021
With the Participation of a Number of Arab Judges and law professionals
”The ADJD Discusses “Criteria for Distinguishing between Cause of Action and Legal Basis
Under the title "Criteria for Distinguishing the Cause of Action from its Legal Basis", the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) held a roundtable to discuss the legal frameworks relating to the cause of action and the extent of its impact on the determination of legal costs, the extent of preeminence of the criminal judgment over the civil case (res judicata), and the impact of the cause of action on the jurisdiction of different courts.
The roundtable, which was held remotely via videoconference, in the presence of a number of Arab judges and lawyers, in cooperation with the Arab Judicial Training Network (AJTN), stressed the importance of adhering to the stringent definition of legal terminology (cause of action, legal basis) and paying attention to close meanings and definitions of different legal terms and expressions.
The cause of action is the fact on which the litigant relies to claim his or her right or to assert the object of his or her legal action, which is determined by practical judicial applications of the judgments handed down by the courts of first instance, appeal and cassation, explained the participants who highlighted the limits of the involvement of the judge and the litigants and the limits of the characterisation of the case on the basis of the facts, indicating that if the cause of action is up to the litigant, the characterisation of the case is the responsibility of the judge on the basis of the facts put forward by the parties.
The participants in the roundtable also linked the principles underlying the UAE's 50th anniversary objectives to the UAE's ambitious vision for the next 50 years, which aim to achieve leadership and excellence in various fields, and the impact of this on the development of judicial services, through an applied comparative view between the Arab, European and international judicial systems.