Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 31

Summary: - The appeal period is twenty days from the date of pronouncement of a judgment rendered in the presence of the accused. Article 201, Criminal Procedure. Its connection with public policy. The court rules that the appeal is inadmissible as to form if filed after the time limit, unless there is force majeure or an excuse on the appellant’s part. Assessment thereof is a matter of fact. The condition therefor. - Counsel’s delay in lodging the appeal is not a circumstance of force majeure. The reason: the law does not require the accused to appoint counsel to appeal the judgment rendered against him. Rule: The appeal period, like all time limits for challenging judgments, is a matter of public policy. The court therefore rules of its own motion that an appeal is inadmissible if filed after the prescribed time limit, unless force majeure or an excuse on the appellant’s part prevented him from filing it in time. Under Article 201 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Trials, the period for appealing a judgment rendered in the presence of the accused begins on the date of its pronouncement. That being so, assessment of the appellant’s excuse for failing to lodge the appeal in time is entrusted to the trial judge, provided that it rests on sound reasons. Counsel’s delay in lodging an appeal against the judgment rendered against the accused is not a circumstance of force majeure capable of preventing this, since lodging the appeal is the concern of the convicted person, not his counsel, because the law does not require the accused to appoint counsel to appeal the judgment rendered against him. The challenged judgment set out the excuse raised by the appellant’s defence, which he said prevented him from lodging the appeal in time, then concluded—within the court’s discretionary authority—that this excuse was unacceptable to the court. What the judgment stated in this respect was sufficient and sound to reject that defence. Accordingly, the appellant’s complaint against the judgment in this regard is unsound.