Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 2550

The seller's failure to perform his contractual obligation to transfer ownership of the sold real property to the purchaser where he does not own it or - 469 - Obligation part thereof. Breach of a contractual obligation. Its effect. The purchaser's right to rescission and compensation. A personal right. An action asserting it shall not be heard upon denial after the lapse of 15 years, provided that the defendant invokes this. The period begins to run from the date on which the seller's lack of ownership of the thing sold is established and the purchaser learns thereof. This is not altered by the possibility that ownership of the thing sold may subsequently devolve upon the seller, or of ratification of the sale by the true owner, and the consequent possibility of applying the provisions governing the sale of another's property. The basis: application of the provisions of law depends on existing legal positions, not hoped-for and anticipated positions. - The right asserted in an action for partial rescission and compensation for the seller's breach of his obligation to transfer ownership of part of the divisible thing sold to a purchaser because he does not own that part. It is the right to partial rescission of the contract and the right to compensation arising from breach of that obligation. Its implication. The acknowledgment that precludes the defendant from pleading that such an action may not be heard is his acknowledgment of the plaintiff's right to rescission and compensation. Failure to acknowledge the right in that manner. Its effect. The judge is precluded from hearing the action whenever the conditions for applying that bar are satisfied. This is not altered by whether the denying party is correct or mistaken in his acknowledgment. The basis therefor. - Denial requiring that an action not be heard. It applies to all personal rights, whatever their type, so long as the period barring the hearing of an action thereon has elapsed. Its effect. Its application to an action for rescission for breach of the obligation to transfer ownership of the thing sold to the seller. Article 438 of the Civil Code.