RIYADH – Muhammad Al-Isa, Minister of Justice and Chairman of the Supreme Judiciary Council, has said his ministry was taking steps to streamline the country's judiciary. He also said special labor courts would be set up and the commercial courts would be separated from the general judiciary. During a lecture at the Higher Judiciary Institute in Riyadh, he said the commercial courts would have their own judicial and administrative staff. The members of the Supreme Judiciary Council are fully engrossed in compiling the bylaws and articles of law for the commercial courts. He said the Kingdom's courts system is divided into Shariah (Islamic law) courts on the one hand and specialized statutory tribunals on the other. He said the statutory tribunals cover most commercial cases. He said commercial cases were originally handled by the Saudi judiciary system for more than 25 years. After then, he added, the Sharia judiciary handled such cases. He said: “When we speak about the commercial courts, we must refer to the specialized courts and qualitative judiciary. “The modern judiciary system covers the qualitative judiciary, which emerged from the general courts, civil status courts and penal code courts." He said the Supreme Judiciary Council is empowered to establish new specialized courts. He emphasized labor courts will be founded soon, adding some civil status courts have already been established. He also stressed the great care the ministry gives to the training of human resources. — SG
