The Judicial System in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Its Origination and Development

Abstract

Saudi Arabia is spending nearly $ 2 billion to reform its judicial system, including courts and related institutions, in an attempt to streamline legal procedures, thereby helping to strengthen the role of the courts in the country and work on judicial independence to make decisions taken away from outside influence. The judiciary in Saudi Arabia is distinct from other judicial systems in the Arab countries by belonging to a system that requires it to apply the provisions of Islamic law directly, except for some administrative committees that have judicial authority, because Saudi Arabia takes a system of multiple jurisdictions, however, the Shari'a courts remain the one with general jurisdiction, and others have a limited mandate to restrict them to exclusive disputes.

Keywords

• the judicial system
• sharia provisions