Earlier this week, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin announced that the Kingdom is continuing to develop its regulatory system and legislation and that it will review draft legislation for four principle judicial regulations to pave the way for their ratification and implementation.
They are: the Personal Status Law, the Civil Transactions Law, the Penal Code for Discretionary Sentences and the Law of Evidence.
As a practicing lawyer, I feel that I must, in this position, commend the Crown Prince’s ideas and his role in this comprehensive developmental journey. He is a man of law, and so it is not surprising that he has a strong legal mind and vision that prioritizes his country and his peoples’ interests, not only in the short term but in the long term as well. None of these efforts are more profound or more significant or influential than basing their framework on comprehensive detailed regulatory systems. Systems that are built on sustainable and clear legal foundations that account for the interest of citizens and residents and their changing conditions and that are marked by transparency, clarity and the promotion of equality and stability. These systems, with others, thereby contribute to the developments the Kingdom is witnessing and to enhancing and solidifying its position as a developed country.
These reforms came alongside the accelerating developments and strides that the Kingdom’s judicial system has seen recently, which constitute a transformation and a qualitative change that have demonstrated two matters critical to the public. First: Islamic legislation (Sharia) is comprehensive, suited for every time and place, and can be developed to resolve calamities and novel developments. Second: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is serious about implementing its reform policies, which go beyond economic and social issues. Judicial matters are encompassed through the development of the legal and regulatory environment in such a way as to make it sustainable, flexible and effective, while simultaneously ensuring the realization of the Kingdom’s development vision and its initiatives.
In a previous article, I touched upon the qualitative shift that had been made in developing and modernizing of Saudi Arabia’s judicial system, including remote litigation’s success and many legal matters’ resolution electronically, which this article is too short to list. In this regard, I referred to a report issued by the Ministry of Justice two years ago; in it, the ministry summed up many of the developmental steps that had been taken. Then came the Judicial Council’s decision to cancel verdicts made on suspicion and the abolition of the punishment of flogging for offenders who committed crimes whose punishment is discretionary. There is no doubt that these steps manifest a positive paradigm shift and change of direction in the Saudi judiciary’s path.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has stressed that the development of the draft legislation for these systems is being done within the framework of the system of governance, regulations and laws of the Kingdom. I have no doubt that these reforms will be a pillar that contribute effectively - with those that preceded it - to improving the judicial apparatus’s performance, the issuance of new core statutes or the revision and modernization of other statutes. This will help entrench the principles of justice, transparency, protect human rights and achieve comprehensive and sustainable development, in addition to shortening trial periods, ensuring consistency between similar cases, curbing corruption, enhancing integrity and transparency and improve judicial and oversight institutions’ capacities, whereby the determination of each individual’s responsibility would be ensured.
When speaking about reforms, we cannot overlook the fact that developing the abovementioned regulatory system will create opportunities for the introduction of sound methodology to some of the branches of the systems being developed. Their novel and modernized aspects will benefit from the achievements in this vein that others have made under the Islamic law umbrella. This will provide judicial, regulatory and legislative systems with a comprehensive blend of Islamic and legal laws and broaden the range of their knowledge and expertise.
Moreover, systematic development and pluralization, which I have already referred to, in light of the changes to the systems, reflect on judicial inclinations and the verdicts issued by the judiciary. From there, as one but not the only example, the Personal Status Law’s development will contribute, among other things, to rendering women capable of attaining their rights more effectively than had been the case in the past. The beauty here is that this all comes within the framework of Islamic law and is consistent with its humanitarian and human rights objectives. Furthermore, it is in line with life’s developments and its changes, allowing us to keep pace with the legal and regulatory practices and developments in the world.
Through the academic knowledge I have acquired as a lawyer who has practiced in the Kingdom and other countries, I have become aware that the justice system in the Kingdom, even with the developments it has witnessed, is in dire need of these systemic legislative reforms, which will be of assistance to judges, lawyers and advocates, allowing them to work within a regulated institutional framework that promotes justice.
If I were to conclude this article with a single suggestion, it would be that these legislative, regulatory changes be presented to all relevant experts and practitioners once the drafting is finalized so that they can share their opinions and suggestions for the enhancement of their efficiency and solidity. This approach’s utility has been proven abroad. This has been demonstrated many times in the Kingdom as well, as several ministries had submitted draft regulations through their electronic channels to public bodies for those with relevant expertise to go over. As a result, hundreds of ideas and suggestions were submitted, and the ministries did not hesitate to take up the useful and practical ones among them to develop the regulations and release them in their enhanced form.
