Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 302

A lawyer appearing as a party's representative. The lawyer must declare his appearance on the party's behalf in the hearing minutes and, before pleading, establish his authority to represent 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 client. The court's obligation to ascertain the existence of the authority entitling him to appear. Treating the party whom the lawyer came to represent as absent because the lawyer holds no power of attorney. A right of the court. This rule extends to the representative's appearance before the expert appointed in the action. Invoking the inadmissibility of the court's scrutiny of the relationship between parties and their representatives. Incorrect. Its restriction to authority to litigate, not authority to appear. - The challenged judgment correctly concluding that the female appellant failed to appear—as a defendant—before the court of first instance and the appointed expert. The judgment consequently treating the female appellant's alternative claim raised in the appeal petition—set-off between what is owed to her and what she owes—as a new claim not raised before the court of first - 58 - Pleadings instance, which may not be raised before the Court of Appeal. Correct.