There are also civil, criminal, and commercial courts that are organized into courts of first instance, appeals courts, and a Supreme Court, which is chaired by the sultan.
For instance, UAE federal law applies to all the Emirates except Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, which have their own Courts of First Instance that allow them to settle such matters in a civil court rather than a criminal or Sharia court.
As part of a series of judicial reforms initiated at the end of the 20th century, the Supreme Court, with justices appointed by the monarch, was declared the final court of appeal for both civil and criminal cases; a system of intermediary appeals courts was established to handle cases from courts of first instance scattered throughout the country.
The provincial justice system includes supreme courts, appellate courts, courts of first instance, and justices of the peace.
Below these are courts of first instance, courts of judicial proceedings (which do not pass sentences), penal courts, and municipal courts.
Other than those minor cases, district and family courts are the courts of first instance—except for cases involving insurrection, which are tried in the high courts.
The second type, sometimes called trial courts, are courts of first instance in which most cases of major importance are begun.
Some 800 cases are pending before the courts of second instance and 800,000 before the courts of first instance (which are least able to cope with the flow of cases).
