Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 130

Summary: - The general rule is that civil-rights actions are brought before the civil courts. The exception: bringing them before the criminal courts. The condition: the right claimed must concern harm caused by the crime for which the criminal action was brought, and compensation must arise from a wrongful act constituting the crime that is the subject of the pending criminal action. The criminal court’s jurisdiction in this respect is a matter of public policy because it concerns judicial competence. Rule: It is established that the general rule is that civil-rights actions are brought before the civil courts. The law exceptionally permits them to be brought before the criminal courts where the right claimed concerns harm to the civil claimant caused by the crime for which the criminal action was brought; that is, compensation must arise from a wrongful act constituting the crime that is the subject of the pending criminal action. Otherwise, this permission ceases and the criminal courts lack jurisdiction to hear the civil action, because this permission is founded on an exception and must therefore be exercised within the limits prescribed by law, and because the allocation of jurisdiction in this respect is a matter of public policy as it concerns judicial competence.