A qualitative leap in consolidating achieved justice and legislative reforms
Kuwait has witnessed a qualitative leap in consolidating achieved justice, anchored by a package of legislative and regulatory reforms, while advancing toward adopting a modern model that integrates artificial intelligence innovations with the preservation of judicial guarantees and data confidentiality. The measures, which accelerated in pace since May of last year, spanned several tracks, including expediting case resolutions, creating effective mechanisms to address the backlog of appeals and judicial notifications, launching stages of electronic litigation, and developing legal texts that serve the justice system.
In July of last year, the Ministry of Justice announced that the Court of Cassation, in cooperation with the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and the Civil Service Council, would begin operations in several new specialized circuits dedicated to reviewing appeals, aiming to address their backlog and expedite their resolution. This step was part of a broader plan to enhance judicial efficiency and accelerate case processing, based on previous studies and results that demonstrated the success of the resolution mechanism through specialized appeal circuits.
In September 2025, the President of the Court of Cassation, Advisor Dr. Adel Boursali, confirmed the success of the plan adopted by the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and the Court of Cassation’s administration in addressing the issue of case congestion and backlog at the court. The Court of Cassation resolved 17,434 appeals during the 2025–2026 judicial year, representing a 17.7 percent increase compared to the 2024–2025 judicial year, during which 14,816 appeals were resolved.
In a statement issued recently, the Supreme Council of the Judiciary noted that the Court of Cassation continues to resolve the issue of appeal congestion, in implementation of the high directives from His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, may God protect and support him, and in fulfillment of the plan adopted by the Council in this regard.
For its part, the appellate circuits of misdemeanors at the Court of Appeal resolved 36,093 appeals during the 2025–2026 judicial year, marking a 203 percent increase compared to the preceding year. This progress, covering the period from October 2025, resulted in reducing the timeframe for scheduling hearings for these appeals to no more than two months from the date of depositing the appeal petition with the registry of the Court of Appeal, down from a previous duration exceeding two years.
