Qatari lawyer and assistant professor of commercial law at Qatar University (QU), Dr Mohamed Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi, presented “Insights into the Qatari Legal System” during a lecture held at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) recently.
Dr al-Khulaifi was a guest speaker at the public lecture and his presentation included a brief history of Qatari law, a review of legal departments and steps required in passing new laws today.
Dr Mehran Kamrava, director of the Centre for International and Regional Studies at GU-Q, which hosts the Monthly Dialogue Series lecture, said: “This is the second year of the Georgetown University Qatar and Qatar University fellowship initiative that allows us to engage and share the expertise and insights of our academic colleagues at QU. Dr al-Khulaifi’s expertise in matters of Qatari law is particularly significant, as he is both a practising lawyer and a published law professor.”
The law professor described a long history of legal dispute resolution in Qatar that stretches back to the seventh century, noting that pearl divers used to go to the “Al Salfa judiciary”, a group of well-known people who specialised in a particular method of dispute resolution based on the customs of that time period.
The country passed through the period of the British mandate, after which “the British courts were eliminated when Qatar declared its independence in 1971, and replaced by the ‘Qatari Justice Courts’”, said Dr al-Khulaifi, clarifying that this new court had full authority to rule over cases related to civil, commercial and criminal law, while the “Shariah Court” specialised in family disputes, inheritance and other Islamic law.
In 2003, there was yet another shift in the legal system when both these judicial entities - Justice and Shariah - merged into a single entity called “The Qatari Courts”. And, in 2005, the Court of Cassation was established, the highest level in the judicial sector.
Dr al-Khulaifi also discussed the challenges of ensuring that commercial laws keep pace with Qatar’s rapid economic development, saying: “Qatar is engaged in a tremendous number of high-valued projects, valuing approximately $250bn, according to projectqatar.com. To provide full legal protection to these projects from any misinterpretation of law, the regulations of the country must be solid in illustrating the rights and obligations of each type of business, especially with regulations concerning insurance and construction.”  
Dr al-Khulaifi is also the associate dean of Academic Affairs at QU and is frequently consulted by government institutions to present his legal opinions on matters related to commercial legislation in Qatar.