Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 131

The general rule is that testimony must be direct. The reason: testimony derives from observation. Permissibility of relying on testimony by common repute to establish a husband’s harm to his wife. The condition thereof. Its difference from testimony - 343 - Personal Status by hearing or hearsay, whose source is the litigant in whose favour the testimony is given himself. The basis thereof: a witness may not testify to anything he has not personally witnessed by sight or hearing, except for the matters excepted by the jurists, including lineage, death and marriage. - The legislature accepted testimony by common repute in actions for separation on grounds of harm, relying on Maliki jurisprudence. - Assessment of harm warranting judicial divorce and its negation are questions of fact within the trial court’s exclusive competence. Its reliance on witnesses’ statements and arbitrators’ reports in an action for separation is within the trial court’s authority. Its condition. Example.