Antiquated laws still shaping societal norms up to 50 years later

Ghenwah Jabouri

KUWAIT: Laws generally work to prevent disorder from taking place in any given society, and prevents anarchy from taking place. Furthermore, laws are the core of a country''s wellـbeing which not only helps the government to protect the rights of its citizens but also works as a positive vehicle that enlightens society of their legal rights while pursuing various projects. Nevertheless, while some laws being enforced today are working to sustain law and order, conversely, some are seen by many as being unfair, and their existence only hindering the right to gender equality and other developments. Moreover, some were set out in the early 1960''s, and in interviews with Al Watan Daily, legal experts have stated that they are too archaic and simply do not parallel the many changes that have occurred since their inception.Al Watan Daily spoke to lawyers to hear their take on some of the laws that remain simply to exist, but move against the tide of change due to various reasons.

Attorney at law and constitutional expert and head of the International Committee at the Kuwait Bar Association, Labeed Abdal offered Al Watan his insight on some of the outdated laws which need urgent attention by the concerned authorities.He began by discussing the criminal court law which was issued in1970 covering adultery cases. "The law says that if a man catches his wife committing adultery and he murders her, the law in Kuwait will consider his rage as a reason behind his intention to murder his wife and will give him the punishment of a misdemeanour, which is a maximum of three years imprisonment only," Abdal explained."However, if the husband commits adultery, and the tables are turned around, the wife would be punished with life imprisonment or even be given the death penalty. This means that there is a major paradox in reasoning and fairness between the two situations in the said law which definitely needs amendments," he asserted.Another outdated law according to Abdal regulates the administrative circuit in the court which reviews all the administrative and ministerial decisions, issued in 1981."The mentioned law does not allow the administrative courts to review any administrative decisions from the Ministry of Interior regarding Kuwaiti nationality and considers it as a sovereign matter," he stated."The mentioned law needs urgent amendments to help in solving the stateless Arab problem in Kuwait through direct intervention from the judicial power. The mentioned amendments will help to find justified cases that can be granted Kuwaiti nationality depending on the valid applications of the Kuwait nationality law."ـ

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