The judicial system in the Emirate of Dubai is like the most common judicial systems in the world formed of First Degree courts, the Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation.
1- Courts of First Instance : These are the first degrees of litigation.
2- Court of Appeal : It is the second Degree of litigation.
3- Court of Cassation: It is the highest court in the judicial system in the Emirate of Dubai.
Inheritance Court: the fourth independent court in the Dubai Courts
The Dubai Court of First Instance, Appeal and Cassation were established under consecutive laws, the first law was passed on September 8,1970 determining to establish Dubai Courts, specifying its chief judges, and divided into personal status and civil courts and placed litigation into two degrees of first instance and appellate.
Later, Law No. 2 of 1979 was passed to establish supreme court, and Law No. 1 of 1988 to found Court of Cassation. It remained as it is, until the issuance of Law No. 3 of 1992 for the formation of Courts in the Emirate of Dubai, which combined the three courts - Cassation, Appeal and First Instance - into one law.
Subsequently, Law No. 3 of 2000 was passed to found a department called the Courts Department and gave it the authority to organize the courts in the Emirate of Dubai from the financial and administrative aspects. It defined the department’s powers and named its technical, financial and administrative departments. Then Law No. 1 of 2003 was passed regarding the establishment of the Department of Justice, which gave the department the powers which include under its wings the courts and the Public Prosecution with all its powers and previous management, in addition to the supervision of the judicial inspection apparatus with reference to the reliance in the organization of the affairs of the courts and the Public Prosecution and the judicial inspection of the laws issued in the affairs of organizing each of them separately before the issuance of the law establishing the Department of Justice.
In 2005, the law was issued to abolish the Department of Justice, which restored the order to its previous era, separating the Public Prosecution from the courts. Finally, the law regulating Dubai Courts for the year 2005, which renamed Dubai Courts as it is (Dubai Courts) and restructured its departments. It remained so until the issuance of the Judicial Authority Law in the Emirate Dubai No. 13 of 2016, which stipulates the prestige, independence and justice stating that judges are independent in the performance of their duties, and there is no authority over them in the exercise of their duties other than the law, and the independence of the judiciary may not be compromised.