The Semantics of Civil Liability: An Interpretive Approach to the Ten-Year Warranty Within Saudi and Jordanian Construction Regulations

This study explored the civil liability of the supervising designer (engineer) and the contractor (implementer) in case of damages and latent defects occurring in the structural works of the building, especially during the 10-year warranty period, based on the interpretive and linguistic structures of the Saudi Building Code Implementation System and the provisions of the Jordanian Civil Code. In the context of both Saudi Arabia and Jordan, traditional civil liability rules are rarely sufficient within the construction framework. In this scenario, negative impacts may arise due to the necessity of full or partial reconstruction or defects that undermine safety or durability, thus affecting the entire principles upon which building warranties are based. An interpretive comparative linguistic methodology was employed in the critical deconstruction of Article (29) of the Saudi Building Code and Article (788) of the Jordanian Civil Code to uncover the latent formulation decision-making concerning how different legal languages build, divide, and enforce liability. Key findings showed that Saudi Arabia’s reliance on public certification (occupancy certificate) leads to a rigid, expansive liability system, while Jordan’s reliance on receipt of works as private contractual milestones permits greater interpretive flexibility. This paper established that this risk of misinterpretation of building code provisions can be reduced through the embedding of greater linguistic precision so that building code provisions are, among other things, more enforceable and do not blur the line between public safety and the private sector’s innovation.