Kuwait Law of Evidence in Civil and Commercial Matters (Decree-Law No. 39 of 1980) — documents, the KD 5,000 limit on witness proof, presumptions and res judicata

Issued at Seif Palace on 4 June 1980 (20 Rajab 1400), the law has seven parts: general provisions; written evidence (official documents, private documents, orders to produce documents, proof of authenticity); witness testimony; presumptions and res judicata; admission and examination of the parties; the oath; and inspection and actions to record a state of affairs.

BURDEN AND RELEVANCE. The creditor must prove the obligation and the debtor its discharge (Art. 1). Facts to be proved must be relevant, material and admissible (Art. 2). A court may decline to follow the result of an evidentiary step it ordered, giving reasons in its judgment (Art. 7).

DOCUMENTS. An official document is one in which a public official, or a person charged with a public service, records what was done before him or what he received from the parties, in accordance with the law and within his authority (Art. 8). It is proof against everyone of what its author recorded within his remit, unless shown to be forged by the procedure the law provides (Art. 9). An official copy of an existing original is proof to the extent it matches the original (Art. 10).

WITNESS PROOF. Outside commercial matters, a transaction worth more than KD 5,000, or of undetermined value, cannot be proved or disproved by witnesses unless agreement or statute provides otherwise (Art. 39). Witnesses are also excluded, whatever the value, to contradict or go beyond a written instrument (Art. 40). Witness proof is allowed where there is a beginning of proof in writing from the opposing party, a material or moral impediment to obtaining written proof, or loss of the written instrument through no fault of the creditor (Art. 41). A court that finds a witness testified falsely sends a record to the Public Prosecution (Art. 50). A person who fears losing a witness before a dispute reaches court may apply to the summary judge to have the witness heard in advance (Art. 51).

PRESUMPTIONS AND RES JUDICATA. Statutory presumptions relieve the party they favour of other proof, unless rebuttal is excluded; the judge may draw other presumptions where witness proof is allowed (Art. 52). Final judgments are conclusive in disputes between the same parties, in the same capacities, about the same subject-matter and cause, and the court applies this of its own motion (Art. 53). A civil judge is bound by a criminal judgment only as to facts it decided where the decision was necessary. He is bound by an acquittal only if it rested on a finding that the act was not committed by the accused (Art. 54).

WHAT IS NOT HERE. The law contains no provisions on electronic documents or signatures; these are governed by Law No. 20 of 2014 on Electronic Transactions. Court-appointed expertise is governed by the Expertise Law (Decree-Law No. 40 of 1980, a separate entry).

USE IN A REPORT: relevant wherever a foreign court or tribunal must assess how a Kuwaiti fact would be proved in Kuwait, or the evidential weight Kuwaiti law gives to an official Kuwaiti document or a Kuwaiti judgment. Art. 9 gives an official document conclusive effect in Kuwait. That is a rule of Kuwaiti procedure, not a finding on authenticity. A foreign decision-maker applies its own rules to documents produced before it.

SOURCE: the Arabic text was read in full on lawskw.com (Kuwait Laws Portal), a private publisher of consolidated Kuwaiti legislation. The authoritative text is the Official Gazette (Kuwait Al-Youm); gazette numbers and dates above are as shown by the source.

Two points recur in cross-border work. First, the KD 5,000 threshold on witness proof (Art. 39) explains why Kuwaiti civil disputes turn on documents. A party without a written instrument faces a structural hurdle in Kuwait, and that may matter when a foreign court considers whether a claim could have been brought there. Second, Art. 54 limits the effect of a criminal acquittal on later civil proceedings: an acquittal on doubt does not bind the civil judge. Both should be stated with the article number in any expert opinion on Kuwaiti procedure.