Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 3658

A lawyer appearing as agent for a litigant. He must declare his appearance on the litigant’s behalf in the hearing record and, before pleading, establish his authority from the person on whose behalf he declared his appearance by submitting his authenticated power of attorney to the court at the first hearing at which he appears for his principal. The court’s obligation to ascertain the existence of the agency authorizing him to appear. Treating the litigant whom the lawyer came to represent as absent because the lawyer holds no power of attorney. A right of the court. The application of this rule to the agent’s appearance before the expert appointed in the action. Invoking the impermissibility of the court’s interference in the relationship between litigants and their agents. Incorrect. Its restriction to agency in litigation, rather than agency for appearance. - The challenged judgment correctly concluding that the appellant had failed to appear—as defendant—before the court of first instance and the appointed expert. The judgment’s consequent determination that the appellant’s alternative claim made in the statement of appeal—set-off between what is owed to her and what she owes—is a new claim not made before the court of first instance and may not be made before the Court of Appeal. Correct. Agency in litigation: