Arrest without a Warrant and Guarantees of the Arrestee: A Comparative Study between the Emirati Law and the English Law

‘Individuals… have rights that public authority must respect. They are to be written into law and defended via independent courts.’(1) Striving for an optimal balance that both safeguards the safety and stability of society by combating crime with efficacy, and protects the guarantees of the arrestee poses a difficult challenge.(2) Legislators have a crucial responsibility to safeguard the voiceless and the vulnerable. Disproportionately, those already marginalised and socially deprived in our communities are those that stand accused; finding themselves further disadvantaged facing the full force of the state’s resources, poised to potentially lose both freedom and reputation, perhaps forever. This research is a comparative study of the lawfully prescribed guarantees of the arrestee contained within the English and Emirati legal systems, considering statutory and common law. The adopted approach throughout the paper utilises contrast, correlation and analogous analyses to ascertain areas requiring amelioration.