Abstract
Most systems of law validate contracts only when a number of conditions are met. By and large these conditions relate to the competence of the contracting parties to transact, to offer and acceptance, to the subject-matter and sometimes to formal requisites. In addition some systems have their own particular requirements. Thus the Common Law of England and the United States of America demands that no promise is treated as serious except when made against a valuable consideration; the existence of consideration is a precondition of validity for all contracts unless they are under seal. The French legal system and the Romanistic legal family in general require a lawfil cause for bilateral contracts and unilateral undertakings. The significance of cause was debated over a long period of time by law authors and was given varying interpretations by courts. According to an early dogmatic interpretation cause is defined as the immediate contractual as indicated in the contract itself; that is unvaried in contracts which belong to the same category, i.e., the corresponding obligation in bilateral contracts, the implemented obligation in real contracts and animus dozzandi for donations. That interpretaiion of cause was strongly challenged as being false and useless. A more recent interpretaiion, initiated by French courts, takes into consideration the psychological angle ofthe obligaiion. is accordingly defined as being the sum of all extetnal and internel motives which induce a party tO conclude a legal act as well as the aim which is intended lO be achieued through that legal act.l in the earlier meaning is identified as causa proximea cause of the obligaiion or immediate purpose. In its more recent meaning it is identified as causa remota, cause of the contract or moiive. Immediate purpose and inducing moiive are the language I will use henceforth. Cause will be used to indicate both meanings. This cle is meant to provide an answer to whether the noiion of cause (sabab) is part of the traditional Islamic and contemporary Arab laws of contract.2 Because
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