Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 244

Summary: - The legislature required the draft judgment containing its reasons to be signed by all judges of the panel who heard the pleadings, participated in the deliberations and issued the judgment. The reason: to ensure that the judgment was issued after deliberations encompassing its reasons and operative part, and that the court’s conviction concerning it was settled on the basis of what appeared in the draft. - Failure to deposit the draft judgment signed by all members of the panel that issued it. Its effect: nullity of the judgment. This nullity relates to public policy because of its connection with the foundation of the judicial system. The court may declare it of its own motion. An example of the occurrence of this nullity, vitiating the judgment and requiring its cassation. Rule: The legislature required the draft judgment containing its reasons to be signed by all judges of the panel who heard the pleadings, participated in the deliberations and issued the judgment. In so doing, the legislature indicated that the draft judgment must possess the essential requirements for its existence by being signed by all judges of the aforementioned panel, to ensure that the judgment was issued after deliberations encompassing its reasons and operative part and that the court’s conviction concerning it was settled on the basis of what appeared in the draft. Nothing indicates this other than the signatures of the members of the panel that issued the judgment on its draft containing its reasons. Those signatures demonstrate that they examined the reasons, discussed them and approved them in the form recorded in the draft. Consequently, failure to deposit the draft signed by all members of the panel that issued the judgment renders it void, thereby invalidating the judgment issued on its basis. The nullity resulting from failure to sign the draft relates to public policy because of its connection with the foundation of the judicial system. It may therefore be invoked by the litigants or the Public Prosecution, and the court shall declare it of its own motion. That being so, and as examination of the draft of the challenged Court of Appeal judgment establishes that its first face lacks the signatures of 2 members of the circuit that issued it, and its first and last faces lack the signature of 1 of its members, this invalidates it and invalidates this judgment, vitiating it and requiring its cassation, without any need to examine the grounds of appeal.