Constitutional Insight: The Kuwait Court System and Legislative Process
Type
Legislative Insight
Date
13 Dec 2024
Jurisdiction
Kuwait
Taxonomy
General Constitutional Law
Copyright
LexisNexis
Legal reference
Kuwait Law No. 0/1962 Constitution of the State of Kuwait
The legal system
Sharia (Islamic law) is the main source of law. The legal system of Kuwait is an amalgam of British common law, French civil law, Islamic legal principles, and Egyptian law.
Constitutional background
Kuwait Law No. 0/1962 Constitution of the State of Kuwait draws on both Western and Arab models. Constitutional guarantees have been frequently suspended by amiri decrees. However, after the 1990 invasion of Iraqi forces, the 1991, “operation desert storm” reinstated the Kuwaiti government of the Al-Sabah family.
Kuwait Law No. 0/1962 combines the positive aspects of both presidential and parliamentary forms of government. It is based on principles of democracy, the sovereignty of the nation, freedom of the citizen, and equality of all citizens in the eyes of the law.