Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 199

The husband's capacity. The provisions of Law No. 51/1984 concerning Personal Status apply thereto, rather than the Civil Code. The reason for this. It is a special law containing rules governing capacity to marry. - Formation of marriage. Its condition. An offer from the wife's guardian and acceptance of marriage, or by those acting in their stead. - The marriage contract, its condition: both spouses must possess capacity to marry, consisting of sanity and puberty. The reason for this: marriage of an insane person or a person of deficient intellect. The contract must be concluded by the guardian of the person according to the order of inheritance. Multiplicity of guardians of the person. The trial court may select the most suitable among them. Absence of the legally recognised guardian. The judge has guardianship as the holder of general guardianship, acting on behalf of the ruler. - A marriage contract concluded by an offer from the wife's guardian and acceptance by the insane husband or husband of deficient intellect himself, without his legally recognised guardian. A void marriage incapable of ratification. The reason for this: a defect in the husband's capacity prevents formation of the contract owing to the absence of one of its essential elements. Example concerning the nullity of a marriage contract because the husband under interdiction concluded it himself without his guardian, notwithstanding that guardian's signature on it as a witness.