Force Majeure

Force majeure is an unforeseeable, unavoidable event beyond the parties' control — war, natural disaster, sweeping government measures — that makes performing a contract impossible. Under UAE civil law, if force majeure renders performance wholly impossible the obligation can be extinguished and the contract terminated; related doctrines deal with partial impossibility and with exceptional circumstances that make performance not impossible but ruinously onerous, where courts may rebalance the obligation. Contractual force majeure clauses then layer on top, defining covered events, notice requirements and suspension mechanics — and UAE courts read them alongside the statutory framework rather than instead of it. The pandemic years made this vocabulary mainstream, generating rent, construction and supply disputes that tested what counts as impossibility versus mere hardship. It matters because invoking force majeure wrongly is itself a breach. You meet it in construction contracts, supply agreements and leases — usually in the tense letter exchange after a project stalls.