Judicial System

Judicial System in Saudi Arabia
jurisdictions of the courts and the Board of Grievances. (1)
Fifth: Commercial courts: The court shall be composed
of specialized circuits and each circuit shall be composed
of a single judge or more as determined by the Supreme
Judiciary Council; the jurisdictions include:
• All commercial disputes between merchants whether
original or incidental;
• Actions against the merchant because of his main
activity or secondary activity;
• Disputes between partners/ shareholders in companies;
• All disputes and violations relating to commercial laws
without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the Board of
Grievances;
• Disputes relating to bankruptcy and placing under
guardianship and eliminating placing under guardianship;
• Other commercial disputes.
It is permitted to form specialized circuits whether
criminal, family matter, labor or commercial within the
general courts hierarchy in districts, provinces or centers
where no specialized courts were formed.
Based on the forgoing, it is obvious that the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia has adopted the Dual Judicial System
which itself is divided into two structures, namely, general
courts and administrative courts. And the general courts
are composed of three classes: first instance courts, appeal
courts and the Supreme Court each class with certain
(1) Ibid, section 34.
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