The Egyptian Judicial System (or judicial branch) in Egypt, is an independent branch of the government which includes both secular and religious courts. The Egyptian Judicial System (or judicial branch) in Egypt, is an independent branch of the government which includes both secular and religious courts. ...

The Egyptian judicial system is based on European, primarily French, legal concepts and methods. Under the several governments during the presidency of Mubarak, the courts have demonstrated increasing independence, and the principles of due process and judicial review have gained greater respect. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The legal code is derived largely from the Napoleonic Code. Marriage and personal status are primarily based on the religious law of the individual concerned. Thus, there are three forms of Family Law in Egypt, Islamic, Christian, and secular (based on the French Family Laws). First page of the 1804 original edition The original Napoleonic Code, or Code Napoléon (originally called the Code civil des français, or civil code of the French), was the French civil code, established at the behest of Napoléon I. It entered into force on March 21, 1804. ...

The judicial branch plays an important role in the political process in Egypt, the branch is given the responsibility to monitor and run the country's parliamentary and presidential elections.

Criminal Code

Egypt based its criminal codes and court operations primarily on British, Italian, and Napoleonic models. Criminal court procedures had been substantially modified by the heritage of Islamic legal and social patterns and the legacy of numerous kinds of courts that formerly existed. The divergent sources and philosophical origins of these laws and the inapplicability of many borrowed Western legal concepts occasioned difficulties in administering Egyptian law.

The criminal code listed three main categories of crime: contraventions (minor offenses), misdemeanors (offenses punishable by imprisonment or fines), and felonies (offenses punishable by penal servitude or death). Lower courts handled the majority of the cases that reached adjudication and levied fines in about nine out of ten cases. At their discretion, courts could suspend fines or imprisonment (when a sentence did not exceed one year).

Capital crimes that carried a possible death sentence included murder, manslaughter occurring in the commission of a felony, arson or the use of explosives that caused death, rape, treason, and endangerment of state security. Few convictions for capital crimes, however, resulted in execution.

Egypt's laws require that a detained person be brought before a magistrate and formally charged within forty-eight hours or released. An accused is entitled to post bail and had the right to be defended by legal counsel.

The Emergency Law of 1958 outlined special judicial procedures for some cases. The law enabled authorities to circumvent the increasingly independent regular court system in cases where people were charged with endangering state security. The law applied primarily to Islamic radicals but also covered leftists suspected of political violence, drug smugglers, and illegal currency dealers. It also allowed detention of striking workers, pro-Palestinian student demonstrators, and relatives of fugitives.

The Emergency Law of 1958 authorized the judicial system to detain people without charging them or guaranteeing them due process while an investigation was under way. After thirty days, a detainee could petition the State Security Court to review the case. If the court ordered the detainee's release, the minister of interior had fifteen days to object. If the minister overruled the court's decision, the detainee could petition another State Security Court for release after thirty more days. If the second court supported the detainee's petition, it released the detainee. The minister of interior could, however, simply rearrest the detainee. The government commonly engaged in this practice in cases involving Islamic extremists.

Civil Code

The Egyptian Civil Code is the prime source of civil law, and has been the source of law and inspiration for numerous other Middle Eastern jurisdictions, including pre-dictatorship Libya and Iraq as well as Qatar. The Egyptian Civil Code is the prime source of civil law for the Arab Republic of Egypt. ...

Courts

to be written

See Also

External Links