Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 134

Summary: - Prohibition of appeals by cassation against judgments rendered by the Court of Appeal concerning disputes relating to the lease of real property and compensation arising therefrom that fall within the jurisdiction of the Rentals Circuit of the Court of First Instance. The criterion for determining whether a judgment was rendered in a rental dispute is whether that dispute falls within the scope of application of Decree-Law 35 of 1978 or not. - The condition for the inadmissibility of appeals by cassation against judgments rendered in rental disputes is that the circuit has adjudicated a rental dispute whose determination requires the application of a provision of Decree-Law 35 of 1978. A judgment founded on a legal rule contained in another law, such as the Law of Procedure, the Law of Evidence, or the Civil Code. Its effect: it is subject, as regards the admissibility of an appeal by cassation against it, to the general rules set forth in the Law of Procedure. - The challenged judgment's ruling that one lease contract was void and another valid, and its reliance thereon in evicting the tenant for refusing to pay rent, on the ground that the lease contract constituting the basis of the intervening company's claim in the action had expired upon the expiry of its term, since it was required to be registered pursuant to Article 11 of Decree 5 of 1959 concerning Real Property Registration. Its import: the judgment founded its disposition of the action on a legal rule contained in a law other than Decree-Law 35 of 1978. Its effect: an appeal by cassation against it is admissible because it is subject to the general rules in the Law of Procedure. Rule: It is established in the jurisprudence of this Court that the last paragraph of Article 26 of Decree-Law 35 of 1978 concerning the Lease of Real Property prohibits appeals by cassation against judgments rendered by the Court of Appeal concerning disputes relating to the lease of real property and compensation arising therefrom that fall within the jurisdiction of the Rentals Circuit of the Court of First Instance. The criterion for determining whether a judgment was rendered in a rental dispute is whether the dispute falls within the scope of application of Decree-Law 35 of 1978 or not. The condition for the inadmissibility of an appeal against these judgments is that the circuit has adjudicated a rental dispute whose determination requires the application of a provision of the aforementioned Decree-Law. If these conditions are not met, in that the judgment rendered by the Court of Appeal is founded on a legal rule contained in another law, such as the Law of Procedure, the Law of Evidence, or the Civil Code, the judgment is subject, as regards the admissibility of an appeal by cassation against it, to the general rules set forth in the Law of Procedure. That being so, the challenged judgment founded its ruling that the lease contract dated 1/2/2013 was void and the lease contract dated 27/2/2013 was valid—and relied on this latter contract in ordering the eviction of the tenant for refusing to pay rent to the lessor company thereunder—on the ground that the lease contract dated 15/4/2002, constituting the basis of the claim of ........ and Sons Company, the intervener in the action, had expired on 14/4/2012 upon the expiry of its term, since it was required to be registered pursuant to Article 11 of Decree 5 of 1959 concerning Real Property Registration. Accordingly, the challenged judgment founded its disposition of the action on a legal rule contained in a law other than Decree-Law 35 of 1978, and an appeal by cassation against it is therefore subject to the general rules in the Law of Procedure.