Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 327

The jurisdiction of the Administrative Circuit of the Court of First Instance and, thereafter, the designated circuit of the Court of Appeal to hear appeals against judgments issued by it. It arises only where the dispute submitted is among the administrative disputes specified in Articles 1, 2, 5, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of Decree-Law No. 20 of 1981 establishing a circuit within the Court of First Instance to hear administrative disputes. Disputes other than these do not fall within its jurisdiction. This jurisdiction is subject-matter jurisdiction. This is not altered by the assertion that the general rule concerning subject-matter jurisdiction attributes it to the Court of First Instance, not to its circuits. The reason therefor: this general rule ceases to apply where the legislature, by a special provision, establishes a circuit having exclusive jurisdiction to hear a particular type of dispute. The challenged judgment’s departure from this view. Vitiates it. An example.