Developing the legal environment for business in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Comments and suggestions

Abstract

Closing the door of ijtihad or independent reasoning in the 10th century resulted in a legal system that was often at odds with the modern world, especially in the area of contracts. Although it is considered to be a big breakthrough at the present time that some of the religious figures or ulama in Saudi Arabia have finally expressed their interest in the codifi-cation of laws, the issue has to be dealt with from a different, not only religious, perspective. The importance of comparative law must be expressed when dealing with all commercial matters. Promoting and encouraging intellectual curiosity in different legal areas through academic institutions and research centres will drive the scholars to study the commercial law subjects from a number of different perspectives. In that process, they will develop a better understanding of their own system and know the way of developing it. © 2013 Torki A. Alshubaiki.