Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 1539

A judge is disqualified from hearing the action, even if none of the litigants seeks his recusal, if he is related to any of them by blood or marriage. The reason: the existence of a close relationship between them requiring that he be prevented from hearing the action, to safeguard the standing of the judiciary and the supremacy of its word, to fulfil the appearance of impartiality, and to protect judicial judgments from suspicion attaching to them on account of the judge’s person. - Issuance of a judgment in an action despite the disqualification of the judge who issued it or participated in issuing it. Its consequence: its nullity on grounds of public policy. - Kinship, including kinship by marriage. Its nature. Articles 16, 17 of the Civil Code. - 668 - Civil Procedure - Kinship by marriage is that which connects one spouse to the relatives of the other spouse, although it does not connect the relatives of each of them to one another. The implication: the wife’s brother is considered a relative of the husband in the same degree of kinship as his relationship to his sister. Example.