Article 124 of the Saudi Law of Evidence

المادة 124 من نظام الإثبات · الباب العاشر: الخبرة

The article allows the court to rely on an expert report submitted in another case instead of appointing a new expert, while the parties keep the right to discuss what the report contains.

Official text (Arabic)

This article has not been amended since the law was issued.

يجوز للمحكمة الاستناد إلى تقرير خبير مقدم في دعوى أخرى عوضاً عن الاستعانة بخبير في الدعوى، وذلك دون إخلال بحق الخصوم في مناقشة ما ورد في ذلك التقرير.

This is the official Arabic wording, the only legally binding version. We do not translate the law itself; the explanation below is ours. Official source: Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers

Article 124 explained in plain English

This article gives the court an option that saves time and cost: instead of appointing a new expert in the case, it may rely on an expert report submitted in another case.

Permissive, not mandatory: the text says "the court may," so the decision is the court's, and a party cannot oblige it to do so.
An alternative to using an expert: the report submitted in the other case stands in place of appointing an expert in the current case.
The right to discuss is preserved: this does not prejudice the parties' right to discuss what the report contains, so each party can state his comments and objections to it.

The article sets no other express conditions beyond the above; it does not specify, for example, the type of the other case or its parties, and the assessment of how suitable the report is for the dispute before the court remains with the court.

Connected to it are Article 123, which allows an expert to be appointed to give an oral or written opinion on a simple technical matter, and Article 125, which refers to the Law of Sharia Procedure or the Commercial Courts Law, as the case may be, for evidence procedures on which there is no provision.

A person who faces a report from another case in his own case and wants to discuss or object to it may consult a lawyer who specializes in litigation and procedure.

Practical example

Several apartments in one building in Riyadh were damaged by a water leak, and one of the owners brought a case in which the court appointed an expert who submitted a report on the cause of the leak. When another owner brought a similar case, the court relied on the same report instead of appointing a new expert, and let both parties discuss what it contained.

Translated from our Arabic explanation with machine assistance. For guidance only; it does not replace advice from a lawyer on your situation.

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