Judiciary During the Reign of King Abdulaziz

The Judiciary During the Reign of King Abdulaziz was one of the fundamental pillars in building the modern Saudi state. The Founding King, Abdulaziz Bin Abdulrahman Al Saud, was keen to entrench justice derived from Islamic Sharia, making it the primary reference in all matters related to personal status, civil, and criminal affairs. He was also keen on gradually organizing the judiciary in terms of its procedures, the concentration of its responsibilities, and the determination of its jurisdictions, until it became different from what it had been before the unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The state of the judiciary before the reign of King Abdulaziz was varied in its conditions. The Hejaz and Al-Ahsa regions followed a relatively organized judicial system, limited to the arrangement of courts and the conduct of procedures. In contrast, justice in Najd was carried out by individual judges in the main cities. Each city had a judge and an emir (administrative governor). The judge would review the dispute between the two parties and issue a ruling he deemed appropriate for the case. If both parties accepted the ruling, it was implemented immediately; if one or both of them rejected it, the matter was referred to the emir to carry out its execution.

At that time, judges in Najd did not have a courthouse or a designated seat for the judiciary. They would look into cases in their homes, in mosques, or in any place where they happened to be. They also handled cases and general incidents that occurred in the region where they resided, as well as in nearby villages and dependencies. Justice was generally characterized by simplicity in procedures, the absence of multiple levels of litigation, and the issuance of judgments orally, with written records being rare. In some cases, rulings were executed on the same day, or even at the very moment, without delay or repeated sessions. King Abdulaziz personally appointed the judges, ensuring that they were known for their integrity. He allocated stipends for them from the public treasury and entrusted them with certain scholarly and preaching roles. In Aseer Province, the situation did not differ much from that in Najd, as King Abdulaziz appointed both an emir and a judge there to enforce Sharia rulings.

There was no judiciary specialized in a particular type of case. The first court of this kind in Najd and its dependencies was Mustajala Riyadh (Summary Court of Riyadh), established in 1950. It was a partial court that reviewed specific cases and amounts.

As for the Bedouins, they applied what they referred to as Hukm Al-’Arifah (judgment of the knowledgeable one). The *’arifah* was equivalent to a judge in settled cities, and the group was called *Al-’Arifoon* (the knowledgeable ones). They were individuals recognized for their wisdom and knowledge of customary law and tribal traditions. They were later replaced by students of knowledge appointed by King Abdulaziz in the tribes, as he entrusted Abdullah Bin Abdulatif with the task of selecting preachers and guides from among the scholars and sending them to the villages and settlements of the Bedouins to educate them in Islam and to adjudicate disputes that arose among them.

At the outset, King Abdulaziz was keen to achieve harmony between the judicial systems that had been in place in society before Saudi rule and to ensure their compatibility with the system of justice in Islam, placing them within a framework acceptable to society. He did not begin with any radical change in the judicial approach followed before his rule in the Hejaz. Instead, he entrusted the review of the court system and its arrangement to the Majlis Ahli (currently the Shura Council), which was established in Makkah Al-Mukarramah in 1926. In the statement it issued, it was stipulated that one of the council’s functions was to review the court system and arrange it in a way that ensured the implementation of justice and Sharia rulings.

The first step in organizing the judiciary was the issuance of the Royal Decree on August 4, 1927, forming the courts in the Hejaz into three levels, specifying the jurisdiction of each:

1- Summary Courts (partial courts).

2- Major Courts and Branch Courts, which were general courts.

3- The Judicial Oversight Authority (Court of Cassation).

Alongside these courts, specialized courts also existed in the Hejaz, such as the Commercial Council, which was established in Jeddah in 1926 to review commercial affairs and cases requiring swift adjudication. Additionally, another Commercial Council was established in Yanbu. These entities later developed into commercial dispute resolution bodies, and in the modern era, they became known as “commercial courts,” considered part of the first-instance courts under the Ministry of Justice.

During the reign of King Abdulaziz, entities affiliated with the courts were established, serving as support bodies for the judiciary, namely:

- Notaries: These were officials specialized in registering commercial transactions such as company contracts, sales, agreements, and powers of attorney. The first regulation for notary departments was included in the Royal Decree issued in August 1927, in Chapter Four, which defined the functions of notaries. A separate regulation for notaries was then issued on August 24, 1927, consisting of thirty articles. In 1938, the Judicial Responsibilities Consolidation Law was issued, and its sixth chapter explained the functions of notaries, how to perform them, and the duties of notary staff. Another regulation specifically for notaries was issued in 1945, consisting of forty-eight articles.

- Treasury Offices: These were managed by an employee called the Treasury Officer. Their responsibilities included recording deaths, cataloging, and safeguarding the estates of the deceased if there were no heirs, or if among the heirs there were minors or absent individuals without legal representation. The Treasury Officer also represented such heirs in legal defenses and litigation when necessary. The establishment of Treasury Offices goes back to the Royal Decree issued on August 2, 1927, which stipulated in Chapter Five the establishment of Treasury Offices in the courts of Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Jeddah, and Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, specifying their structure. From a judicial perspective, these offices were linked to the courts.

The judicial and administrative regulations during the reign of King Abdulaziz also included the organization of court structures and their formations. This regulation addressed matters related to the courts, their classification, the procedures of litigation, and the auxiliary bodies supporting them. It also emphasized adherence to the principle of free litigation, as well as the unification of references in judicial rulings. In addition, the Judicial Responsibilities Consolidation Law was issued in 1938. This law addressed matters related to the appointment of judges and their deputies, the subject-matter jurisdictions of courts, their classifications and levels, and the departments affiliated with them. It was reissued in 1952 with a more precise framework than its predecessor, differing only in the nomenclature of the judicial corps and the courts. Article Five of the law stipulated that the courts consist of:

- The Supreme Judicial Council, which represented a new judicial level.

- The Court of Appeal, corresponding to the former Sharia Audit Authority, and later the Court of Cassation.

- General Courts, corresponding to the former Major Courts and Branch Courts.

- Partial Courts, corresponding to the former Summary Courts.

The organization of the judiciary also addressed procedures and the principles of litigation, such as the Law of Sharia Court Proceedings issued in 1931, and the Law of Pleadings issued in 1936, which was reissued in 1952 with some changes under the title Regulation of Administrative Affairs in Sharia Departments. This covered several matters, including: setting a date for hearing cases, notifying litigants, organizing case files to be prepared for review before the session by a designated clerk, hearing cases and interrogating litigants, the absence of one or both litigants, default judgments, notification and appeal of rulings, provisional enforcement, legal representation (lawyering), and general provisions.

After the annexation of the Hejaz under King Abdulaziz’s rule, Prince Faisal Bin Abdulaziz (later king) was appointed as his viceroy in the Hejaz. Upon assuming the role of viceroy, he appointed directors for the important departments that existed at that time, including the Department of Justice, which later became the Presidency of the Judiciary. This institution was administratively affiliated with the viceroy before the establishment of the Council of Deputies (currently the Council of Ministers), and its headquarters were in Makkah Al-Mukarramah. Abdullah Bin Suleiman Bin Blihid was appointed as its director in 1926.

The Presidency of the Judiciary was composed of: the Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justice, the Sharia Audit Authorities, and the Bureau of the Presidency of the Judiciary. It was considered the main body overseeing the courts, notaries, Treasury Offices, and court inspection departments, as well as their functions, duties, authorities, and personnel. It was also the reference authority for issuing fatwas, reviewing judgments, handling the appointment and transfer of judges, and addressing complaints submitted against them. On February 8, 1926, King Abdulaziz directed that the courts in Aseer and other southern and western provinces be administratively affiliated with the Presidency of the Judiciary in Makkah Al-Mukarramah.