Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 135

Summary: - The challenged judgment’s conclusion acquitting the appellant requires it to rule that it lacks jurisdiction to hear the ancillary civil action and to refer it to the civil court, even if this is not stated in the operative part. It is a judgment that does not terminate the dispute. It does not bind the civil judge. A cassation appeal against it is inadmissible. Rule: It is established that if, when hearing the criminal action, the court concludes that the act attributed to the accused does not satisfy the elements of the offense and acquits him of the charge—as in this case—it must in that event rule that it lacks jurisdiction to hear the civil action founded on that act and brought ancillary to the criminal action. This necessarily entails referral of the civil action to the competent civil court, even if this is not stated in the operative part of the judgment—as in the present case. The challenged judgment’s ruling in the civil action does not terminate the dispute in that action or prevent its continuation if it is properly brought before the competent civil court, because it did not decide its merits. Accordingly, a cassation appeal against it is inadmissible. This is not altered by the court’s acquittal of the respondent of attempted murder, because that ruling will not bind the civil judge, given that the acquittal was based on the act attributed to the respondent not satisfying the elements of the offense charged, and was not based on the non-occurrence of the incident or the failure to establish its attribution to him.