Confessional court (Arab Union)

In the Union of Arab Republics (UAR; informally the Arab Union), civil claims (legal matters not resolvable under criminal law) are often tried in a confessional court (Arabic: المحكمة الطائفية al-maḥkamah aṭ-ṭā’ifīyah), as an alternative to settling claims in the secular district courts and superior courts of the state judiciary, which hear all criminal trials. A confessional court is a legally constituted tribunal held by a mosque, church, synagogue or other registered house of worship, and presided over by a formal religious leader or monastic (such as an imam, rabbi, pastor, bishop or other priest, or monk/nun), with the specific religious tradition determining whether the verdict is made by the presiding leader or a separate jury.

According to the Constitution of the Arab Union, all civil claims may optionally be tried via confessional courts as long as two criteria are simultaneously met: 1) all parties to the claim (plaintiff, defendant, applicant, respondent and other litigants) agree to settle the dispute in a particular confessional court, and 2) the civil dispute does not include the state (namely the federal government, a republic or a municipality or subordinate bodies), a company or other corporate entity, or a secular non-governmental organisation. The parties to a civil dispute need not be members of the religious confession holding tribunal, but must only unanimously agree to be legally bound by the confessional court's verdict. If any party to the dispute does not agree to hear the claim via confessional tribunal, the claim must legally be heard by secular trial. Parties to a confessional tribunal, however, may not opt out of the confessional system after having legally agreed to settling the dispute via confessional tribunal (which is made official by simultaneous signing of a confessional contract by all parties in the presence of a secular notary, a secular judge and a confessional judge).

Some of the most common civil disputes resolved via the confessional system include marital/family disputes (typically separation, divorce, child custody and inheritance), property disputes (including inheritance), civil liability for incurred damages (with a confessional court's resolution method frequently differing dramatically from that ordered by a secular court for a similar case), employment and contract law and other compensation disputes (with the exception of workplace injuries, which must legally be tried by secular courts). In 2020, it was estimated that up to 40% of civil claims within a religious community were resolved via the confessional system, with the confessional system being especially popular within Shia, Maronite and Eastern Orthodox communities.