The alignment of the Saudi legal system with the international rules of electronic commerce

Almasoud, Sultan

Abstract

This thesis deals with fundamental questions of compatibility and
adaptation in the regulation of electronic commerce as it impacts on the norms
and precepts of Islamic law. It finds that in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the
response of the religious and civil authorities to the realignment of its laws of
contract, in order to encompass the innovations and changes implicit in the
electronic environment, have been inhibited by misgivings about the nature of
the electronic environment itself and by fears that some of the protective
aspects of traditional contract formation will be lost.

Based upon a detailed comparison of the various stages and components of
the electronic and traditional contract, the thesis finds that the principles
underlying Islamic law are not violated or substantively threatened by the new
forms. It is shown that laws and treaties, created at an international level of
scrutiny and discussion, are now broadly in place and accepted by most of the
‘developed’ world, with necessary allowance being made for future innovation
and change.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it is recommended, can only make progress
in this field by a policy of greater engagement, both in respect of the nature of
the electronic contract itself, and also with the arbiters of compromise in bodies
such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. It finds this progress to be essential to the health and well-being of Saudi society as a
whole, and it suggests that any misgivings currently felt by the nation’s
legislators are based more on misapprehension than on objective realities.

Citation

Almasoud, S. (2008). The alignment of the Saudi legal system with the international rules of electronic commerce. (Thesis). University of Hull. Retrieved from https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4214875

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jan 14, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 23, 2023
• Keywords: Law
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4214875
• Additional Information: Law School, The University of Hull
• Award Date: Oct 1, 2008