Pluralism of the Legal Function in Registering Real Estate Dispositions: A comparative study

Abstract

Whereas the contract is considered to be the outcome of the free will expression of its parties and a confirmation of the respect of the principle of the authority of will by the legislator, the special nature of the contract when its subject is real estate, and its seriousness when concerning the transfer of ownership, making the legislator intervene in the formation of the contract. This intervention was represented by the requirement that the concerned contract must meet a certain formal form by registering it with a competent official authority to ensure the integrity and effectiveness of the contract and providing a reasonable level of protection for bona fide others dealing with the property whether in the form of exchange or benefit.

The Arab legislators were not far from all of that, despite their variations in the significance of the form of registration and its function. Such disparity and differences, however, did not deviate from one of two forms: either for the form of registration to be an essential element for the validity of the real estate disposition transferring ownership or to be a necessary element for the most prominent legal effects of the disposition to take place, particularly the transfer of ownership and conferring the act legal authority vis-à-vis the contracting parties and the other.