Judicial System

Judicial System in Saudi Arabia
The conditions agreed upon by scholars are:
1. the person administering oath shall be an adult (a sane
adult) of free will: thus an oath by a youth and an insane
will not be accepted and neither will be accepted of a
person coerced to administer oath;
2. the defendant must deny the claim made by the claimant; so
if he is admitting the claim there will be no need for oath;
3. a disputant must ask the judge to apply oath, and the
judge must ask the party to administer oath;
4. oath is personal: no one will represent another to
administer oath because it relates to religion of the one
who administers oath, so an attorney or a guardian of
a minor will not be allowed to administer oath, and for
the youth it will be delayed up to reaching adulthood;
5. oath shall not be administered with respect to Hudud
and punishments;
6. oath shall be administered with respect to rights that
may be admitted/ acknowledged; oath may not be
administered with respect to rights not subject to
admission – an attorney, a guardian or custodian may
not administer oath as they must not represent others in
such matters. (1)
There are many types of oath:
First: oath by the defendant: this is called ‘deterring oath’
which the judge addresses to the defendant pursuant to the
request/ demand of the claimant and it is agreed upon among
(1) See: Al Bahr Al Rayiq: 202/7; Al Badaie: 226/6; Bidayat Al Mujtahid: 455/2;
Al Sharh Al Kabeer with Al Disoogi: 145/4; Al Qawaneen Al Fiqhia: 206, Fas
edition; Muqni Al Muhtaj: 475/4; Kashaf Al Qinaa: 232/6: Al Muqni: 234/9.
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