More Abu Dhabi court judgments to be published online

Abu Dhabi Judicial Department is allowing the publication of more court judgments to raise legal awareness among the community. Andrew Henderson / The National

More court rulings in Abu Dhabi will be published online in an effort to raise legal awareness and encourage transparency in the capital.

On Saturday, Abu Dhabi Judicial Department said it would expand the judgments shared online to include rulings by the emirate's court of first instance, appeal and cassation in civil, commercial, real estate and labour matters.

Previously, not all judgments would be published on the department's website. It remains illegal to publish judgments on cases considered "in-camera", or private, by the legislator.

Yousef Al Abri, undersecretary of ADJD, said the move was ordered by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs and chairman of ADJD, to raise legal awareness among the community and confirm the legal system's impartiality and transparency.

Expanding the publication of judicial decisions to include the different levels of courts in Abu Dhabi is likely to help improve its ranking in the Contract Performance Index, in addition to consolidating the emirate's and UAE's rank in the Doing Business report published by the World Bank, Mr Al Abri said.

More than 5,800 Abu Dhabi court judgments have been published online to date, reported state news agency Wam.

The publication of names, personal data and place of work remains prohibited. The nationality of the litigants may be disclosed only if justified, such as to determine the law applicable to the dispute.