Judicial System

Judicial System in Saudi Arabia
By necessity, these three powers exist in any mature state
whatsoever its political system and irrespective of its political
philosophy. Within this context, one may raise questions
about the nature of these powers? Are the relationships
between these powers of separation or integration or
something else? Opinions differ in that respect:
The first opinion supports separation of powers; it is
claimed that separation constitutes ‘an effective safety for
establishing legal (i.e. Rechsstaat) state in contemporary
political systems. This guarantees the creation of an
independent organ of each of the functions of the state
– an organ for legislation (law-making), an organ for
executive power and a third for the judiciary. Once this is
achieved, each organ will have specific jurisdiction without
overlapping with the other two powers’ (1) . If these powers
are to be combined in one, this will lead to tyranny, a fortiori
to injustice and arbitrary rule.
The second opinion supports integration on the basis that,
‘the state is an integrated and inseparable organ’. Powers,
the opinion argues, are essentially one integrated power;
the legislation, the executive and the judiciary may not be
separated, and if they separate, paralysis will occur – it is
obvious that the two opinions are divergent.
This divergence gives rise to a third opinion (i.e.
theory) based on cooperation between the powers, with no
integration, but separation with cooperation. This opinion
(1) Legal State and Islamic political regime, Dr. Muneer Al Bayatti, p. 229.
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