Civil Transaction

A civil transaction is any legally recognised act between private parties that creates, modifies, transfers, or extinguishes a civil right — in contrast to a commercial transaction, which is governed by the Commercial Transactions Law and presumed to be for profit. Civil transactions include ordinary contracts between non-merchants (rentals, sales between individuals, employment, services), gifts, loans without interest, partnerships, powers of attorney, and liability for tort. In the UAE, civil transactions are governed by the Civil Code, and commercial transactions by the Commercial Transactions Law. The distinction matters because commercial transactions have their own evidentiary rules (wider admissibility of witness testimony, shorter limitation periods) and their own customs are recognised as a source of law.