Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 2704

Assessment of the value of an action in relation to the appeal threshold is based on the parties' final claims. Reason therefor. - The final-jurisdiction threshold of the Court of First Instance is five thousand dinars. It encompasses all disputes which that court has jurisdiction to determine at first instance. - The rule is that final judgments issued by the first-instance court may not be appealed. Exception. - The appellant's formulation of his claims at first instance as a declaration that he is free of the maintenance debt adjudged against him and an order requiring the respondent to repay 2920 dinars. In reality, this is a single claim for repayment of that amount, on which the action's value is assessed, and the judgment issued is not appealable because the value falls below the threshold. The challenged judgment's departure from this view and implicit ruling that an appeal is permissible vitiate it. - 457 - Procedure