Judicial System

Judicial System in Saudi Arabia
surrounding each single case is completely untrue, as
circumstances do not affect each single case but only some
rulings such as expenses, estimates, punishments etc. and for
these codes may provide for maximum and minimum limits
to be left to discretion of judges. As to contracts, marriage
contracts, divorce, custody of children, we see that customs
play a minor role in this respect.
An argument put forward by those opposing codification
of Sharia jurisprudential rules is that codification will not put
an end to controversy, because in countries where codified
legal rules prevail, controversy is still there. This may be
contested as follows: lawyers may differ as to application of
legal rules; however whenever they agree on the application
of a certain rule, they will not differ as to the appropriate
ruling/ judgment. For example, if a father asks for custody
of his daughter and is entitled to that in accordance with
the respective legal rule, judges will not differ as to the
appropriate ruling/ judgment. On the other hand, when
Sharia judges exert discretion, they agree on the description
of the facts presented before them, and then their rulings/
judgments would differ according to their jurisprudential
dispositions.
Examples of the jurisprudential differences between
judges in Saudi Arabia the following:
• Judges differ as to inclusion of the owner of an animal
that causes a traffic accident as liable for that accident;
some think to include that owner, others do not.
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