Re-Evaluating Contractual Relativity: Third-Party Effects in Islamic and Positive Legal Frameworks
Keywords:
Relative Effect of the Contract, Islamic Jurisprudence, Positive Law, Contract Theory
Abstract
This study compares the principle of contractual relativity and its exceptions regarding third-party effects in Islamic jurisprudence and positive law. Employing a doctrinal-comparative methodology, it identifies key convergences and divergences in how both systems treat general successors, special successors, and creditors. The research finds that while both systems uphold the core principle, they develop distinct mechanisms for third-party protection, rooted in different foundational philosophies (Sharia vs. autonomy of will). A key novelty lies in the critical analysis revealing that classical juristic tools (like waqf, wasiyya) serve functions analogous to, but conceptually distinct from, positive law exceptions (like stipulation pour autrui). The study concludes that technological advancements necessitate contextual application of the principle, not its abandonment, and offers targeted recommendations for legal harmonization and judicial training to enhance transactional justice and stability.
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Robert Joseph Pothier. (1761). Traité des Obligations. Paris: Chez les frères Debure.
Shams al-Din al-Sarakhsi. (1090). Al-Mabsut. Beirut: Dar al-Maʿrifah.
Souad Ezzerouali & Yassine Chami. (2023). Inclusion of definitions in legislative drafting: A necessity or a luxury? Mazahib, 22(1), 37–64.
Wahbah al-Zuḥaylī. (2007). Al-Fiqh al-Islāmī wa Adillatuh [Islamic jurisprudence and its evidences]. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr.
Yassine Chami & Maya Khater. (2025). The influence of Maliki jurisprudence on the French civil law in terms of the opposability of the relative effect of contract to third parties: A comparative study. Malaysian Journal of Syariah and Law, 13(1), 123–133.
Yassine Chami, Ahmad Ahmad, Mohamad Hidayat Muhtar, Kevin M. Rivera, & Viorizza Suciani Putri. (2024). Admissibility of lawsuits based on interest under Algerian civil and administrative procedures. Jambura Law Review, 6(2), 286–303.
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ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿUmrānī. (2010). Nisbit al-ʿAqd wa Āthāruhā ʿalā al-Ghayr fī al-Sharīʿah wa al-Qānūn [Contract relativity and its effect on third parties in Sharia and law] (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Al-Azhar University, Cairo).
ʿAbd al-Razzāq Aḥmad al-Sanhūrī. (1964). Al-Wasīṭ fī Sharḥ al-Qānūn al-Madanī: al-ʿUqūd allātī Taqaʿ ʿalā al-Milkīyah [The mediator in explaining the civil code: Contracts related to ownership]. Cairo: Dār al-Nahḍah al-ʿArabiyyah.
Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi. (1884). Al-Muwafaqat fi Usul al-Shari‘ah (Contemporary edition). Cairo: Matbaʿat al-Taqaddum.
Afolasade, A. Adewumi. (2021). Protecting intangible cultural heritage in the era of rapid technological advancement. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 36(1), 316–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600869.2021.1997084
Ahmad Tabrez. (2009). Comparative study of gift under Islamic law and transfer of property law: Indian perspective. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1471926
ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Abū Bakr al-Kāsānī. (n.d.). Badāʾiʿ al-Ṣanāʾiʿ fī Tartīb al-Sharāʾiʿ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. (Originally published ca. 1191 CE)
Al-Hadrawi, Baqer Khudair et al. (2024). Mind intruders: Psychological, legal, and social effects of human parasites in the age of technological progress. Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences, 22(2), 5564–5581. https://doi.org/10.57239/PJLSS-2024-22.2.00414
Azlin Alisa Ahmad, Siti Mutiara Mohd Azman, Nadhirah Nordin & Salmy Edawati Yaacob. (2020). Shariah parameters for conditional hibah in preference shares structuring. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 10(11), 258–272. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v10-i11/7928
Bayram Galdibarmak, Abdolhamid Mortazavi & Mehdi Mohammadian Amiri. (2023). A comparative study of guaranty contracts in general jurisprudence, Islamic jurisprudence, and contemporary laws. Kurdish Studies, 11(3).
Boughaba, Nabīl Ibrāhīm. (2003). Naẓariyyat al-Iltizam: Aḥkām al-Iltizam Theory of obligation: Rules of obligation]. Alexandria: Munshaʾat al-Maʿārif.
Charles Aubry & Charles Rau. (1869). Cours de Droit Civil Français (4th ed.). Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie.
David Nadler Prata, Humberto Xavier De Araújo, Cleorbete Santos & Pratham Patel. (2021). A literature review about smart contracts technology. International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science, 8(2), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.82.1
Firas Al-Abed Abbas. (2008). Al-Taʿahhud ʿan al-Ghayr fi al-Qanun al-Madani: Dirasah Muqaranah [Promising for a third party in civil law: A comparative study]. Alexandria: Dar al-Jamiʿah al-Jadidah.
Ibn Qudāmah, Muwaffaq al-Dīn. (n.d.). Al-Mughnī (Contemporary ed.). Cairo: Maktabat al-Qāhirah.
Ibn Rushd. (n.d.). Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al-Muqtasid (Vol. 2). Beirut: Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyah.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad. (1328 AH). Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā. Madina: King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qurʾān.
Jean Goudemet. (1935). Éléments de Droit Civil. Paris: Domat Montchrestien.
John Salmond. (1907). Jurisprudence. London: Sweet & Maxwell.
Joseph Weber. (1950). Elements of Contract Law. London: Butterworths.
Julien Bonnecase. (1928). Traité Théorique et Pratique de Droit Civil (2nd ed.). Paris: Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence.
M. Bordrbala. (2023). Musaḥamat al-Taʿlīm al-Qānūnī fī al-Taṭwīr al-Tashrīʿī li-Qānūn al-ʿUqūd al-Jazāʾirī. Algiers: ASJP.
Marcel Planiol. (1900). Traité Élémentaire de Droit Civil. Paris: Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence.
Oumkeltoum Boughaba & Naima Mekkaoui. (2025). Special methods for terminating a commercial agency contract. Sustainable Development Goals Journal, 13(2), e4309. https://doi.org/10.55908/sdgs.v13i2.4309
Panchenko, S. S. (2025). Peculiarities of defining the term of simultaneous civil law contracts. Journal of Civil Law Studies, 45–56. https://doi.org/10.24144/2788-6018.2025.03.1.45
Popescu, Tudor R. (2015). Some aspects of the principle of relativity effects of the contract in the light of the Romanian new civil code. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics, 6(2[12]), 299–309. https://doi.org/10.14505/jarle.v6.2(12).05
René Capitant. (1923). De la Cause des Obligations. Paris: Dalloz.
Robert Joseph Pothier. (1761). Traité des Obligations. Paris: Chez les frères Debure.
Shams al-Din al-Sarakhsi. (1090). Al-Mabsut. Beirut: Dar al-Maʿrifah.
Souad Ezzerouali & Yassine Chami. (2023). Inclusion of definitions in legislative drafting: A necessity or a luxury? Mazahib, 22(1), 37–64.
Wahbah al-Zuḥaylī. (2007). Al-Fiqh al-Islāmī wa Adillatuh [Islamic jurisprudence and its evidences]. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr.
Yassine Chami & Maya Khater. (2025). The influence of Maliki jurisprudence on the French civil law in terms of the opposability of the relative effect of contract to third parties: A comparative study. Malaysian Journal of Syariah and Law, 13(1), 123–133.
Yassine Chami, Ahmad Ahmad, Mohamad Hidayat Muhtar, Kevin M. Rivera, & Viorizza Suciani Putri. (2024). Admissibility of lawsuits based on interest under Algerian civil and administrative procedures. Jambura Law Review, 6(2), 286–303.
Yongshun Xu, Heap-Yih Chong & Ming Chi. (2021). A review of smart contracts applications in various industries: A procurement perspective. Advances in Civil Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5530755
Published
2025-12-15
How to Cite
Chami, Y., & Khater, M. (2025). Re-Evaluating Contractual Relativity: Third-Party Effects in Islamic and Positive Legal Frameworks. Mazahib, 24(2), 309-328. https://doi.org/10.21093/mj.v24i2.11151
Section
Articles
Copyright (c) 2025 Yassine Chami, Maya Khater
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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