Five New Courts planned

JEDDAH: FIVE new courts will be established soon to expedite legal procedures, according to the Arabic-language daily Al-Madina.

The paper quoted Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan, Adviser at the Ministry of Justice, as saying that the new judiciary system includes five courts and departments comprising commercial, labor and punitive courts, in addition to two traffic and civil status departments.

He said the civil status court will replace the current Guardianship and Marriages Court, and will be affiliated to the General Court. The punitive court will replace the current District Court.

Obaikan added that these new courts and departments will be set up in all regions, with the exception of the High Court, which will be headquartered in Riyadh. Cases will be referred to the High Court after appeal proceedings.

The new judiciary system covers the establishment of appeal courts and the High Court in Riyadh, as well as a higher judiciary council.

Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ethaim, Head of the District Court in Jeddah, said his court will come to be known as the Punitive Court, and will only deal with criminal cases. Labor and commercial departments will be established within this court.

According to this Saudi Gazette article, reform of the Saudi judiciary is actually starting to take place. These steps will take jurisprudence–at least in some areas–outside the hands of the opaque and wildly disparate Sharia courts. A necessary move.