Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 916

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 its judgments. 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 at 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, as a general rule, subject-matter jurisdiction is attributed to the Court of First Instance rather than its circuits. The reason therefor: this general rule ceases to apply where the legislature, by a special provision, establishes a circuit with exclusive jurisdiction to hear a particular type of dispute. The challenged judgment’s departure from this view. It renders it defective. An example.