The Ministry of Justice is looking into the feasibility of handing over 51 types of court cases to other government authorities as part of efforts to relieve the burden on the Kingdom's courts and judges, according to informed sources. The 51 types of cases which the ministry believes could be equally well handled by other bodies include many single-party issues, such as, documentation of marriage, final wills and testaments, social status and property ownership that are regarded as mere courtroom formalities, and which the ministry says take up 40 percent of court time, the sources say. More than 350,000 such cases arise each year, according to the sources, and it is believed that 90 percent of them could be settled through other government bodies. Rashed Al-Hazza'a, Head of the General Court in Jeddah, said such cases “take up judges' time when they could just as easily be handled without courts”.
