Global Contract Law in the Middle East and North Africa: Public Law Constraints

This book comprehensively covers the interplay between cultural and legal globalization and the impact this has on contract law, with a particular focus on state contracts within the MENA region.

The book discusses the roles assumed by Supreme Courts in Egypt and MENA countries in creating unified principles of international contract law in states’ contracts which are consistent with international commercial contracts’ principles. It makes a powerful argument for further harmonisation of contract law in the area, and how this can be achieved. The book forms a case study of how international harmonisation can be achieved through a number of routes, such as codification, digitalization of processes and contracts, and further use of international instruments. It also considers the implications of comparative European law, convention law, and other legal domains, particularly international standards, on contract law in the MENA region. The book suggests how international legal standards can be integrated within contract law, and how a harmonious contract law framework can thus be achieved. Through analyzing ICSID case law, the book argues that unification of contract law principles in the MENA region is a considerable step to achieve legitimate expectations of foreign investors. It argues, further, that global contract law is underway.

The book will be of interest to students and scholars in the field of international contract law, public law and international law in Egypt and MENA countries.

Mohamed A.M. Ismail, PhD (Cairo); FCIArb (London) is the vice president of the Conseil d’État and judge at the Supreme Administrative Court, Egypt. He is an arbitrator in international commercial disputes. Dr Ismail is affiliated with several global legal bodies/organisations. He is a Member of the Comité Française De L’Arbitrage (Paris) and a member of the ’Public Contracts in Legal Globalization’ as a global research network at Sciences Po University, Paris. He has been appointed as an expert to the Working Group of the ICC and UNIDROIT on International Investment Contracts. Dr Ismail was a visiting research fellow at Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg.