Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 997

The judge's disqualification from hearing the case, even if none of the litigants challenges him, if he is related to any of them by kinship or affinity. The reason therefor: the existence of a close connection between them requiring that he be prevented from hearing the case, to safeguard the standing of the judiciary and the supremacy of its word, to satisfy the appearance of impartiality, and to protect judicial judgments from suspicion attaching to them on account of the judge's person. - A judgment rendered in the case despite the disqualification of the judge who rendered it or participated in rendering it. Its effect: its nullity on grounds relating to public policy. - Kinship. Including affinity. Its nature. Articles 16, 17, Civil Code. - Affinity is the relationship linking one spouse to the relatives of the other spouse, although it does not link the relatives of each spouse to one another. The implication thereof: the wife's brother is considered a relative of the husband in the same degree as his relationship to his sister. Example.