Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 160

Summary: - Determination of social status for acquisition of ownership. The relevant consideration is the status from approval of the allocation until expiry of the period it specified, with all other conditions satisfied, without regard to any subsequent change therein. The reason. Because it falls outside the rules it specified for establishing the right to acquire ownership. - The family under the system for distribution of government housing in force from 26/8/1962. Its meaning. A group consisting of a husband, a wife and their children, or some of that group, living in a single household. Its implication. Every member of that group living separately from it falls outside the concept of the family. This must be observed when allocating these houses, whether upon their initial allocation or upon amendment of the allocation. - Allocation of the government house—the subject of the dispute—to the appellant and her mother and delivery thereof to them as constituting a Kuwaiti family during 1976, and their obtaining a loan secured by it from the Credit and Savings Bank to extend and renovate it. Its implication. The appellant's social status for acquisition of ownership was determined from approval of the allocation. Issuance of Decision No. 564/1993 of the Minister of State for Housing Affairs requiring that the number of members of a family entitled to a government house be no fewer than two. This does not alter that conclusion. The reason. It cannot affect the appellant's legal position, which had become settled upon satisfaction of the conditions for her acquisition of ownership of the disputed property. The challenged judgment's departure from this view. A defect requiring its cassation. Rule: It is established in the jurisprudence of this Court that the principle, under natural law, is respect for acquired rights, even if acquired by administrative, regulatory or individual decisions, as this is what justice dictates and the public interest requires for the stability of legal positions, which may not be infringed in accordance with the provisions of the Kuwaiti Constitution. Likewise, the relevant consideration in determining social status for acquisition of ownership is the status from approval of the allocation until expiry of the period it specified, with all other conditions satisfied, without regard to any subsequent change therein, because it falls outside the rules it specified for establishing the right to acquire ownership. The family, under the system for distribution of government housing in force from 26/8/1962, means a group consisting of a husband, a wife and their children, or some of that group, living in a single household. Accordingly, every member of that group living separately from it falls outside the concept of the family, and this concept must be observed when allocating these houses, whether upon their initial allocation or upon amendment of the allocation. That being so, and since it is established in the papers that the government house—the subject of the dispute—was allocated to the appellant and her mother on 19/7/1976 and delivered to them as constituting a Kuwaiti family, and that they obtained a loan secured by it from the Credit and Savings Bank on 30/6/1980 for extension and renovation, the appellant's social status for acquisition of ownership was therefore determined from approval of the allocation. This is not altered by the issuance of Decision No. 564/1993 of the Minister of State for Housing Affairs requiring that the number of members of a family entitled to a government house be no fewer than two, since it cannot affect the appellant's legal position, which had become settled upon satisfaction of the conditions for her acquisition of ownership of the disputed property, as previously explained. Since the challenged judgment departed from this view and ruled to set aside the first-instance judgment and dismiss the appellant's action on the basis that she did not satisfy the conditions for housing welfare, contrary to the provisions of the law, it is thereby defective and must be quashed.