In force Last amended 1/5/1446 AH
Saudi Law of the Judiciary
نظام القضاء
The Law of the Judiciary covers judicial independence and guarantees, the Supreme Judicial Council, the courts and their jurisdiction, judges (appointment, promotion, transfer, inspection, discipline and end of service), the Ministry of Justice, and notaries public.
- Articles
- 85
- In force
- 85
- Amended
- 4
- Issued
- 19/9/1428 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم م/78 بتاريخ 19 / 9 / 1428 · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم 303 بتاريخ 19 / 9 / 1428
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Law of the Judiciary by topic
Judicial Independence and Judges' Guarantees7 articlesSupreme Judicial Council6 articlesTypes of Courts and Circuits11 articlesSupreme Court5 articlesCourts of Appeal3 articlesConflicts of Jurisdiction between Judicial Bodies5 articlesConditions for Appointing Judges6 articlesJudicial Grades and Promotion15 articlesRights and Duties of Judges9 articlesJudicial Inspection7 articlesJudicial Discipline and Trial of Judges12 articlesEnd of a Judge's Service6 articlesNotaries Public8 articlesMinistry of Justice and Judicial Assistants7 articles
Articles of the Saudi Law of the Judiciary
- Article 1The article establishes that judges are independent, subject in their judgments only to the provisions of Islamic Sharia and the laws in force, and that no one may interfere with the judiciary.
- Article 2The article provides that judges may not be removed except in the cases set out in the Law of the Judiciary itself.
- Article 3The article prevents transferring judges to other posts except with their consent or because of their promotion and in accordance with the Law, without prejudice to Article 49.
- Article 4Judges may not be sued over their official acts except under the conditions and rules for their discipline, without prejudice to Article 68.
- Article 5The article sets the formation of the Supreme Judicial Council as a chair and fourteen members, how they are named, their membership term, and their remuneration set by royal order.Amended M/95
- Article 6The article sets the Supreme Judicial Council's powers, including judges' career affairs, issuing regulations, establishing, supervising and naming the heads of courts.
- Article 7The Supreme Judicial Council meets at least every two months with a majority of its members present, its decisions are issued by a majority of the Council, and the President of the Supreme Court replaces its chair in his absence.
- Article 8The article gives the Supreme Judicial Council its own budget, a general secretariat headed by a secretary-general chosen from among the judges, researchers, technicians and administrators, and an internal regulation.
- Article 9The article sets the composition of the courts: the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and general, criminal, personal status, commercial and labor first-instance courts.
- Article 10The article sets the seat of the Supreme Court in Riyadh, how its president and members are appointed, and how its circuits are formed from three judges, or five in the criminal circuit for death, amputation, stoning and retribution judgments.
- Article 11The Supreme Court oversees the sound application of Sharia and the laws, by reviewing death, amputation, stoning and retribution judgments and other appeal judgments where an objection rests on specified grounds.
- Article 12Each Supreme Court circuit sits under its president with all its members present, and if one is absent the president of the court assigns a member of another circuit in his place.
- Article 13The article establishes the General Assembly of the Supreme Court, made up of its president and all its judges, to lay down general principles, with a quorum of two thirds and final decisions by majority of those present.
- Article 14If a circuit of the Supreme Court or of an appeal court wishes to depart from a principle the Supreme Court previously adopted, the matter goes to its president to refer to the General Assembly to decide.
- Article 15Each region has one or more appeal courts working through specialized circuits of three judges, or five in death, amputation, stoning and retribution cases, and appeal circuits may be established in governorates.
- Article 16The article sets the circuits of the appeal courts: civil, criminal, personal status, commercial and labor.
- Article 17The appeal courts consider the appealable judgments issued by the first-instance courts and rule after hearing the statements of the parties, under the Law of Sharia Procedure and the Law of Criminal Procedure.
- Article 18First-instance courts are established in the regions, governorates and centers as needed.
- Article 19The general courts in the regions are made up of specialized circuits, including enforcement circuits, non-contentious proofs circuits and circuits for traffic accident and violation claims, each with a single judge or three judges.
- Article 20The criminal court has circuits for retribution and hudud, discretionary (ta'zir) cases, and juvenile cases. Each circuit has three judges, except cases the Supreme Judicial Council specifies, which a single judge hears.
- Article 21The personal status court consists of one or more circuits, each made up of one or more judges as the Supreme Judicial Council determines, and specialized circuits may be included.
- Article 22The commercial court and the labor court consist of specialized circuits, each made up of one or more judges as the Supreme Judicial Council determines.
- Article 23The general court in a governorate or center consists of one or more circuits, specialized circuits may be established where there are no specialized courts, and the Council specifies the cases for a single judge.
- Article 24The president and members of each circuit, or its judge, are appointed by decision of the court's president, who (or his delegate) presides over the circuit when its president is absent.
- Article 25The courts have jurisdiction to decide all cases under the jurisdiction rules of the Law of Sharia Procedure and the Law of Criminal Procedure, without prejudice to the Law of the Board of Grievances.
- Article 26Courts may not sit outside their seats except in cases requiring a site visit or by decision of the Supreme Judicial Council, which may also assign circuits to pilgrims' and Umrah performers' cases.
- Article 27The article creates a committee in the Supreme Judicial Council to decide conflicts of jurisdiction between the courts and the Board of Grievances or another body, and disputes over enforcing two contradictory final judgments.
- Article 28The article sets the procedure for filing a conflict of jurisdiction request by a statement of claim to the General Secretariat of the Supreme Judicial Council, its contents and attachments, preparation, and setting the pleading session.
- Article 29Filing a conflict of jurisdiction request stops the proceedings in the case, and if it is filed after judgment, the Committee's chair may order a stay of enforcement of the conflicting judgments or one of them.
- Article 30The decision of the Committee for Deciding Conflicts of Jurisdiction is issued by majority and is not open to objection.
- Article 31The article sets the conditions for becoming a judge: Saudi nationality by origin, good conduct, full legal capacity, a Sharia college degree or equivalent with an exam, a minimum age, and no disqualifying conviction or disciplinary dismissal.
- Article 32The article sets the grades of the judicial corps in the Kingdom from judicial lieutenant to president of the Supreme Court, and provides that they are filled under the provisions of the Law of the Judiciary.
- Article 33In addition to the conditions of Article 31, the grade of judicial lieutenant requires a university degree with an overall grade of at least Good and at least Very Good in jurisprudence and its principles.
- Article 34The article requires that a person have spent at least three years in the grade of judicial lieutenant to fill the grade of judge (C).
- Article 35The article sets the conditions for the grade of judge (B): one year in the grade of judge (C), or one of the alternatives it names of comparable judicial work, teaching, or an academic qualification.Amended
- Article 36The article requires, for the grade of judge (A), four years in the grade of judge (B), or eight years of comparable judicial work or teaching jurisprudence, or a doctorate in jurisprudence or its principles.
- Article 37The article requires, for the grade of court deputy (B), at least three years in the grade of judge (A), or eleven years of comparable judicial work or teaching jurisprudence or its principles.
- Article 38The article requires, for the grade of court deputy (A), at least two years in the grade of court deputy (B), or thirteen years of comparable judicial work or teaching jurisprudence or its principles.
- Article 39The article requires, for the grade of court president (B), at least two years in the grade of court deputy (A), or fifteen years of comparable judicial work or teaching jurisprudence or its principles.
- Article 40The article requires, for the grade of court president (A), at least two years in the grade of court president (B), or seventeen years of comparable judicial work or teaching jurisprudence or its principles.
- Article 41The article requires, for the grade of appeal judge, at least two years in the grade of court president (A), or nineteen years of comparable judicial work or teaching jurisprudence or its principles.
- Article 42The article requires, for the grade of president of an appeal court, that the person have spent at least two years in the grade of appeal judge.
- Article 43The article treats the master's degree and diploma the Law refers to as equivalent to four years of comparable judicial work, and the doctorate the Law refers to as equivalent to six years.
- Article 44The article sets a probation period of two years for a judicial lieutenant and one year for a judge appointed initially, and gives a person first appointed to the judicial corps an allowance equal to three months' salary.
- Article 45The article provides that members of the judicial corps enjoy the rights and guarantees in the Civil Service Law and the Retirement Law and observe the civil service duties that do not conflict with judicial work, without prejudice to the Law of the Judiciary.
- Article 46The article bars removing a member of the judicial corps, other than a lieutenant or a probationary initial appointee, except on the grounds in paragraphs (f, g, h) of Article 69 and under the Law's procedures.
- Article 47The article provides that appointment and promotion in the judicial grades are by royal order on a decision of the Supreme Judicial Council, and sets the promotion criteria: seniority, then efficiency, then age.
- Article 48The article provides that the salaries of members of the judicial corps in all their grades follow their own salary scale.
- Article 49The article limits transferring and seconding judges within the corps to a decision of the Supreme Judicial Council, and outside it to a royal order, with secondment and loan lasting one year, renewable for another.
- Article 50The article gives the president of the Supreme Judicial Council, by his decision, the power to grant judges leave within the limits of the provisions governing it.
- Article 51The article prohibits combining judicial office with engaging in trade or any post or work inconsistent with judicial independence and dignity, and allows the Supreme Judicial Council to bar a judge from any work that conflicts with his duties.
- Article 52The article prohibits judges from disclosing the secrecy of deliberations.
- Article 53The article requires a judge to reside in the town where his place of work is located, and allows the Supreme Judicial Council, in exceptional circumstances, to permit him to reside temporarily in another nearby town.
- Article 54The article prevents a judge from being absent from his place of work or cut off from his work for a non-sudden reason before he is permitted in writing to do so.
- Article 55The article creates in the Supreme Judicial Council a judicial inspection department that inspects judges' work and investigates complaints referred to it, at least once and at most twice a year.
- Article 56The article sets four grades for rating a judge's efficiency: distinguished, above average, average and below average.
- Article 57The article requires notifying the judge of his efficiency report and what is filed in his file, lets him object within thirty days, and has the Supreme Judicial Council decide with a final decision.
- Article 58The article gives the president of each court the right to supervise its judges and to warn them of their violations after hearing their statements, and lets a judge object to a written warning within fifteen days.
- Article 59The article makes the disciplining of judges the jurisdiction of a circuit in the Supreme Judicial Council of three of its full-time judge members, whose decisions are issued by majority and are not final until the Council approves.
- Article 60The article regulates filing the disciplinary case against a judge by the head of the judicial inspection department at the request of the president of the Supreme Judicial Council, after a criminal or administrative investigation, and the contents of the statement of claim.
- Article 61The article provides that if the disciplinary circuit sees grounds to proceed with the case, the judge is summoned to appear at a suitable time, with a sufficient statement of its subject and the evidence of the violation.
- Article 62The article allows the disciplinary circuit, on deciding to proceed with the case and with the Supreme Judicial Council's approval, to suspend the judge from work until the trial ends, and to reconsider the suspension.
- Article 63The article provides that the disciplinary case against a judge lapses on his resignation, and that the disciplinary case does not affect the criminal or civil case arising from the same incident.
- Article 64The article makes the sessions of a judge's disciplinary case confidential and requires the disciplinary circuit to hear his defense, and permits judgment in his absence if he neither appears nor delegates anyone, once his notification is verified.
- Article 65The article requires the judgment in a disciplinary case to include its reasons and for them to be read out when it is pronounced in a confidential session, and makes the judgment not open to appeal.
- Article 66The article limits the disciplinary penalties that may be imposed on a judge to two only: reprimand and termination of service.
- Article 67The article sets out the instrument for carrying out the two disciplinary penalties: a royal order to carry out termination of a judge's service, and a decision of the president of the Supreme Judicial Council for a reprimand.
- Article 68The article requires that the case of a member of the judicial corps arrested in the act be brought before the Supreme Judicial Council within 24 hours, and otherwise bars arresting or investigating him except with the Council's permission.
- Article 69The article lists eight grounds on which the service of a member of the judicial corps ends, including reaching the age of seventy, death, resignation, health incapacity and termination of service on disciplinary grounds.
- Article 70The article provides that a judicial member's service ends by royal order on the Supreme Judicial Council's proposal, except for death, retirement at the statutory age, and a judicial lieutenant's unsuitability during probation.
- Article 71The article gives the Ministry of Justice administrative and financial supervision of the courts and notary offices, the right to submit proposals to improve the justice system, and a research center that publishes selected judgments.
- Article 72The article provides that the Deputy Minister of Justice is appointed at the Excellent grade.Amended
- Article 73The article provides that notary offices are established, and their jurisdictions and composition determined, by decision of the Minister of Justice, and that the head of each notary office supervises its notaries.Amended
- Article 74The article makes notary offices competent to notarize contracts and record acknowledgments, except endowments and wills, and allows some of these functions to be entrusted to others under a regulation issued by the Minister of Justice.
- Article 75The article assigns the notary function to the town's court where the town has no notary office, with the powers and authority of a notary office within the court's territorial jurisdiction.
- Article 76The article requires anyone appointed as a notary to meet the conditions in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d) and (f) of Article 31, which sets the conditions for taking up judicial office.
- Article 77The article keeps in force the regulation issued by agreement between the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Civil Service on the qualifications for notary post grades, and lets them amend it in accordance with the Law.
- Article 78The article subjects notaries to all the provisions that apply to civil service employees, without prejudice to what the Law of the Judiciary provides.
- Article 79The article subjects notaries to judicial inspection in accordance with the provisions of the Law of the Judiciary.
- Article 80The article gives documents issued by notaries, within their competence, evidentiary force. They are acted on before the courts without additional evidence and may be challenged only for contravening Sharia or statutory principles, or for forgery.
- Article 81The article lists the auxiliaries of the judiciary, including clerks, registrars, researchers, process servers, translators, experts and secretaries, and refers the regulation of their work to a regulation issued by the Minister of Justice.
- Article 82The article requires anyone appointed as an auxiliary of the judiciary or a court employee to pass an examination whose procedures and conditions are set by the Minister of Justice in agreement with the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, in addition to the civil service conditions.
- Article 83The article subjects court and notary office employees to the civil service regulations insofar as they do not conflict with the Law of the Judiciary, and places them under the supervision of their administrative superior and the court president or notary office head.
- Article 84The article provides that all appointments and promotions in the grades of the judicial corps are within the appropriations set in the budget and its provisions.
- Article 85The article provides that the current Law of the Judiciary replaces the Law of the Judiciary issued by Royal Decree No. (M/64) dated 14/7/1395 AH.
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