Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 221

Summary: - The Director of the Enforcement Department or the Deputy President of the Court of First Instance may issue an order on petition imprisoning the debtor. Its condition: the debtor's refusal to execute a final judgment, where the conditions for issuing that order are satisfied. For that purpose, the issuing authority may ascertain whether the grounds for issuing or declining to issue the imprisonment order are present and conduct an investigation in that regard if the documents supporting the application are insufficient. - An application for an order to bring the debtor before the authority. Its nature: it is no more than an investigative measure preliminary to deciding whether to grant or refuse an order for his imprisonment. An example of the inadmissibility of a grievance against an arrest-and-production order. Rule: Articles 189, 292 and 293 of the Code of Procedure mean that the Director of the Enforcement Department or the Deputy President of the Court of First Instance may issue an order on petition imprisoning the debtor—for a period not exceeding six months—if he refuses to execute a final judgment, where the conditions for issuing that order are satisfied. For that purpose, the issuing authority may ascertain whether the grounds for issuing or declining to issue the imprisonment order are present and order an investigation in that regard if the documents supporting the application are insufficient. An application for an order to bring the debtor before the authority is no more than an investigative measure preliminary to deciding whether to grant or refuse an order for his imprisonment. In view of the foregoing, the papers establish that, on 4/2/2013, the Enforcement Department issued a request for the arrest and production of – ..... the respondent on appeal – before the Enforcement Department to take legal measures against her as a debtor owing the appellant an amount of 5109,699 dinars under a final enforceable judicial judgment. As such, it is not an imprisonment order and consequently is not governed by the same rule permitting a grievance against it pursuant to Article 293 of the Code of Procedure. Accordingly, the aforementioned order is an order for the arrest and production of the respondent on appeal to take legal measures against her and, as such, is an investigative measure preliminary to ordering or refusing her imprisonment. The papers contain no order imprisoning the respondent on appeal; consequently, no grievance may be brought against the aforementioned arrest-and-production order. Since the judgment under appeal departed from this view and adjudicated the merits of the grievance despite its inadmissibility, it erred in applying the law and must be set aside.