Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 1283

Judgments rendered in certain personal status matters. Their binding effect is temporary. Reason for that. Their susceptibility to amendment and change. - The authority of res judicata precluding the reopening of a dispute concerning a fundamental issue. Its criterion. The parties having contested it in the first action and its truth having been settled between them by the first judgment. Its import. That ruling acquires binding authority. Its effect. Precluding dispute over it by way of action or defense concerning any subsidiary right whose establishment or negation depends upon establishment of that fundamental issue previously adjudicated. A difference in the relief sought in the 2 actions does not alter this. So long as their basis is the same. Article 53, Law 39/1980. Example concerning maintenance for a maid and a change in the husband's means.