Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 4627

Expropriation and temporary seizure of real property. Their effect. Compensation for the expropriated property must be paid to the owners and holders of rights. Law 33/1964 concerning expropriation. - Contracts of disposition creating and transferring real rights in immovable property, including ownership. They are consensual contracts. Issuance of Law 5/1995 concerning real estate registration. Its effect. Deferral of the creation or transfer of these rights until after registration. All other obligations remain unchanged. A person who has contracted to dispose of real property by transferring its ownership may not claim ownership of it for himself against the transferee, even before registration. Reason therefor: a person who guarantees transfer of ownership to another may not assert it against that other person. Consequence thereof. He has no right to contest the compensation assessed for expropriation. - The owners' sale to a company of their properties expropriated for public benefit. Its effect. It confers upon the company standing to bring its action claiming any rights arising from the expropriation. The challenged judgment's contravention of this. Defective reasoning leading it to an error in applying the law. Passage: