Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 901

Custody judgments have temporary res judicata effect. They are subject to change and alteration, and forfeiture may apply upon a change in - 492 - Personal Status their grounds and the circumstances in which they were rendered. The reason therefor. - The extent of any change in circumstances occurring after the previous judgment. Within the independent discretion of the trial judge, without review. Its condition. Basing the ruling on reasonable grounds supported by the case papers. - The res judicata effect that prevents the dispute from being raised again. Its criterion. The issue previously adjudicated must have been fundamental and contested by the litigants in the first action, its truth must have been conclusively and comprehensively settled between them by the first judgment so as to preclude its reconsideration, and it must itself be the basis of the rights claimed by either party against the other in the second action. An example concerning rejection of a plea that the action cannot be heard because it has previously been adjudicated, owing to changed circumstances in the two actions.