Kuwait Ministry of Justice, Awqaf and Islamic Affairs

The general objective of the ministry was stated by article 1 of the decree promulgated for the ministry of justice in 7/1/1979 to provide justice for the society under a simplified system where every one feels secure on their souls, freedom and money, and keeps the security of the people and their social system, and respects the laws and makes sure that it’s applied and also it constructs a stable system for the real estate property.

Kuwait is moving to build up the methods of work of government bodies using advanced technology in the fields of communication and information. With that being said, they’ve introduced the idea of E-government, which serves the citizens and provides all the facilities to them regarding the judicial department and the work sectors in the Ministry. The Ministry provides justice and preserves the security of the people. The Ministry has created projects such as “E-justice” that provide services and information to the citizens through a global network of information, the internet.

In the first decades of this century, the leaders of Kuwait and whom they authorized from jurists known for their justice were the ones who dealt with the conflicts between civilians according to the Islamic law judgments and traditions. Then in the early fifties courts were established, which specialized in dealing with conflicts presented in front of the court. Also it specializes in registering real estate properties, and it was adjoined in a department called the courts department. In January 1962 the do menial decree of law no 1 of year 1962 was promulgated in the basic system of leadership in the transformation period , and according to it the courts department's term were changed to be the ministry of justice instead. In 11/11/1962 the Kuwaiti constitution was issued. It stressed in article 50 that the leadership system is based on the separation of the legitimate, executive, and the judicial powers and by their cooperation according to its judgments, and that it’s not permitted for any one of them to relinquish all or some of their specialization stated in the constitution. In 9/2/1975 a do menial decree was promulgated to adjoin the ministry of justice and Awqaf and Islamic affairs to one ministry and they re-separated according to a do menial decree promulgated in 6/9/1979. This is a substantial amount of their history with regards to the ministry of justice. As is obvious, they have undergone non-stop modifications in order to make the best system of bringing justice and peace to their state.

Article 1 of the decree promulgated for the ministry of justice in 7/1/1979 has shown these specialties, which are: organizing the necessary means to clear the conflicts presented in courts of its different kinds and considers crimes according to the judgment of law. It is instrumental in carrying out the governmental pleading by the general prosecution in the name of the society in the felonies that are transferred to it from misdemeanors, by investigation, act, and allegation according to law judgments. Among the other things it is imperative for supervising on prisons and other places where penal judgment are executed in as well as providing technical expertise to the justice bodies and other state organizations. It holds works of the official publication for judicial papers and initiatory pleadings ...etc, and execute judgments and writs of execution, and accept its related amounts deposit it and spend it according the law as well as works of real estate registration and authentication, and confirmation, and date listing and visas on commercial records according to law. The final thing that it maintains is cooperation with countries, and Arabian, and Islamic, and foreign organizations in the legal and judicial fields.

The ministry’s body consists of mainly two bodies. The basic bodies of jurisdiction and the other departments. There are several things that Article 231 of chapter two of the decree of law no 23 says shall be in the judiciary body. For instance, there must be a court of causation, court of appeals, and court of first instance just to name a few. Also, there is an Assistant Department of Judiciary Body which covers things such as the judicial arbitration department, judicial department fees, and criminal execution and affairs and the foreign communication office. The other departments consist of the administrative affairs, financial affairs, and family consultancies departments.

The ministry of justice has made news lately and has taken strides to be more functional. The minister of justice made a statement in the newspaper on January 3, 2009 about the construction of new facilities. He said, “I asked the Municipality and Ministry of Public Works to expedite the completion of these projects because the existing buildings are narrow and could not meet the required tasks, a matter that requires providing new buildings in order to ensure performing necessary justice”. He was referring to the task of completing the infrastructure projects of the judiciary and ways to accelerate this task. “We will work on completing more largely and quickly those projects as well as accelerating the execution of the requests of the judiciary members” added Hussein Al-Huraiti. Minister Hussein Al-Huraiti also made news in February by publicly thanking His Highness the Amir for allowing for increased funding granted to senior judicial and public prosecution officials. Thanks to the funding, they feel that they can continue to further the path of boosting justice throughout.