The Journal of Critical Analysis of Judicial Decisions

The Journal of Critical Analysis of Judicial Decisions

A Critique of Judgments Rendered by the Iranian Civil Courts from the Perspective of General Principles Governing E-Commerce Law

Document Type : A critique of the civil court's judgment

Author
Associate Professor, Department of Private and Islamic Law, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Like other legal fields and institutions, e-commerce law is subject to a set of general principles.In addition to their undeniable roles, these principles have the advantage of being an indicator of critique and analysis of a judgment based on its compliance with the aforementioned principles.Since, despite the existence of significant works in the field of e-commerce law, the general principles governing it have not yet been identified and examined in detail in our legal literature, and its position in court judgments has not been criticized and analyzed,, the present article is innovative in two respects.
Using library tools and referring to some civil judgments rendered by Iranian law courts (50 civil judgments), this article, by the qualitative method and use of the descriptive-analytical approach, attempts to answer the question as to what degree the above-mentioned principles are adhered to in judgments made by Iranian law courts.The hypothesis of this research is that the issuance of numerous judgments contrary to the aforementioned principles (in 88 percent of the judgments studied) indicates that these principles do not occupy a prominent position in Iranian judicial precedent. This article, in four sections, introduces four important general principles governing e-commerce law and presents a sample judgment from Iranian legal courts for each principle and criticizes it.In conclusion, clear and practical solutions are suggested to groups benefiting from the research results.
Keywords

1-Almasi Nejad, Ali; Shabani Kandesari, Hadi. “A Comparative Study of the Parties’ Limitations in Choosing the Governing Law.” International Legal Journal, No. 56, Spring and Summer 2017, pp. 9–35. (in persian)
2-Asadi, Abbas; Parsapour, Mohammad Bagher; Badini, Hassan. “Protection of the Weaker Party in Contracts through Constitutional Law.” Private Law Research Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 23, Summer 2018, pp. 9–39. (in persian)
3-Darvishzadeh, Mohammad. (2025). Legal Evolution Through Technological Advancements in Contract Law: A Case Study of Electronic Attorney-Client Agreements. Research and development in private law, 2(3), 90-114. doi: 10.22034/jpl.2025.721258. (in persian)
4-E.Cohen, Julie “from Lex Informatica to the Control Revolution”, Berkeley Technology Law Journal, Vol. 36, No. 3, 2021, Pp. 1017; 
5-Hetty Hasanah, “Legal Aspects of the Digital Signature in E-Commerce Connected to Law Number 19 Year 2016 about Amendments to Law Number 11 Year 2008 about Information and Electronic Transactions”, Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 391, International Conference on Business, Economic, Social Science, and Humanities – Humanities and Social Sciences Track (ICOBEST-HSS 2019), pp. 56-59.
6-Iryna Davydova, Olena Bernaz-Lukavetska, Vira Tokareva, Iryna Andriienko, Olena Tserkovna, “Freedom of contract in the digital age and its implementation in modern technologies: theory and practice”, IJCSNS International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, VOL.21 No.12, December 2021, pp. 545-548.
7- John A. Rothchild, Research Handbook on Electronic Commerce Law, Edward Elgar Publication, 2016
8-Katouzian, Nasser. Legal Acts, 12th Edition, Tehran: Derak Publishing Co., 2007. (in persian)
9-Khademi Kousha, Mohammad Ali. “Sequential Conditions in Electronic Contracts.” Journal of Jurisprudential Research, Vol. 14, No. 3, October 2018, pp. 707–730. (in persian)
10-Mefford, Aron (1997) "Lex Informatica: Foundations of Law on the Internet," Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies: Vol. 5, pp. 211-237.
11-Noori, Seyed Masoud. “Legal Principles of E-Commerce with Emphasis on the Iranian E-Commerce Act.” Hawzeh and University Journal, Vol. 11, No. 44, Autumn 2005, pp. 107–130. (in persian)
12-Przemyslaw Polanski, “A new approach to regulating internet commerce: Custom as a source f electronic commerce law”, Electronic Communication Law Review,  9(3), January 2002, pp.165-205.
13- Rafiei, Mohammad Reza; Saadati Cheshmghan, Amir Hossein. (2024). Tools of Interpretation in Certain Binding Precedent Decisions Rendered by the Supreme Court, in the Light of Teachings of the American Legal System. Journal of Research and Development in Comparative Law, 7(22), 100-130. doi: 10.22034/law.2024.2019933.1286. (in persian)
14-Rezaei, Ali; Rahbari, Ebrahim. “Realization of Error and Its Distinction from Mistake in Virtual Environments and Its Impact on Electronic Contract Formation: A Comparative Study of Iranian, American, Canadian, EU Law and the UNCITRAL Electronic Communications Convention (2005).” Judicial Legal Perspectives Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 70, September 2015, pp. 1–33. (in persian)
15-Sadeghi, Mohsen. Legal Principles and Their Status in Positive Law, 2nd Edition, Tehran: Mizan Publishing, 2015. (in persian)
16-Shahidi, Mehdi. Civil Law III (Obligations), 14th Edition, Tehran: Majd Publishing, 2010. (in persian)
17- Škarka, Adam, Protection of weaker party in the EU case law, Masaryk University, Faculty of Law Law and Legal Science Department of Civil Law, 2018, p.8.