Judiciary and Arbitration in Bahrain

Although Bahrain has had an established system of law courts since 1771, it was only in the course of the twentieth century that it gradually developed a fully-fledged legal system compatible with international norms. Today, like the other Gulf states, its sophisticated judiciary represents a blend of Islamic Shari'a, British common law, and modern reforms drawn principally from Egypt's civil law-influenced trdition. In recent decades, arbitration has also taken its place as an important adjunct to the judiciary.