How to object to a ruling

How to object to a ruling

How to object to a ruling is a question asked by many individuals who find themselves dissatisfied with a judicial ruling issued in a case in which they are parties. To ensure justice and correct any potential errors, the Saudi judicial system guarantees the right to object to rulings issued by judicial courts.

The question arises as to how to object to these provisions, the reasons for the objection, its conditions, its duration, how to write it, and what is the summary of the objection, all of which we highlight in our article.

Reasons for objecting to the ruling

The reasons for objecting to a ruling may vary depending on the type of case and its circumstances, but in general, the most prominent reasons that may prompt an objection to a judicial ruling can be summarized as follows:

1- Error in applying the system: If the ruling committed an error in interpreting or applying the system, Islamic Sharia, or judicial principles issued by the Supreme Court, this could be a strong reason for objection.

2- Error in facts: If there is an error in the facts on the basis of which the judgment was issued, such as presenting incorrect evidence or omitting important evidence presented during the hearing of the case, then an objection may be made based on that.

3- Irregular procedures: If incorrect regular procedures are followed during the trial, such as violating the rights of the defense, failing to adequately inform the parties, or omitting substantive arguments raised in the case, this could be grounds for objection.

4- Failure to provide important evidence before the ruling: If the provision of important information or documents that would have affected the outcome of the ruling is neglected, an objection may be made based on that, noting that whether or not this evidence is accepted is at the discretion of the judges of the Court of Appeal, as the executive regulations for methods of objecting to rulings originally require that all evidence be presented before the court of first instance.

5- New impact on the case: The emergence of new evidence or changes in circumstances that may affect the ruling. For example: the presence of witnesses to the incident who refused to testify before the ruling, or the discovery of a copy of the contract that was missing. All of these matters could be grounds for objection.

6- Incompatibility of the ruling with the evidence: If the ruling conflicts with the evidence presented in the case, then it is based on reasons that are not suitable for building upon, and it must be overturned.

It should be noted that the reasons for objection cannot be limited, as they are numerous and highly complex. In general, you can use the reasons referred to above as a basis for clarifying the points of objection in your objection list. You can also contact us, and we will study the ruling to determine the extent to which it can be objected to, while highlighting the most prominent errors in it.

Conditions for objecting to the ruling

The process of objecting to a ruling is one of the legal means provided by judicial systems to ensure justice and amend rulings that may have been issued incorrectly. Below, we will review the basic conditions that must be met to file an objection to a court ruling:

1- Relying on valid regulatory reasons:

The objection must be based on clear and well-founded regulatory reasons, and the objector must provide strong regulatory justifications to support his request, such as an error in applying the system, an error in the facts, the omission of important information, or any of the reasons for objection detailed above.

2- Adherence to the regular deadlines:

The regular deadlines for objecting to a ruling vary depending on the type of ruling and its wording, as we will explain below. However, in general, the system requires submitting the objection within a specific period of time after the ruling is issued. The objector must adhere to these deadlines to avoid rejecting the objection in terms of form.

3- Paying attention to regulatory procedures:

The objection must be submitted in accordance with the specified regulatory procedures, and this includes preparing the objection list correctly in accordance with the required regulatory formal data, submitting it to the competent court of appeal, and paying the required judicial costs if there are any costs related to the objection; Failure to follow procedures correctly can lead to the objection being rejected.

4- The existence of a regulatory interest:

The objector must have a regulatory interest related to the ruling issued. In other words, the objector must have a direct or potential influence from the ruling, and have a regulatory interest in amending or canceling the ruling, so if he rules for one of the parties to the case with all his requests, he does not have the right to object.

5- Issuance of a ruling by a court whose rulings are subject to objection:

Not all rulings are subject to objection, and reference must be made to the Sharia Litigation System, as well as the royal and ministerial circulars issued in this regard, to determine the courts whose rulings are subject to appeal. For example, rulings issued in minor cases in which the amount of the claim is less than (50) fifty thousand riyals are not subject to objection.

Duration of objection to the ruling

The period of objection to the ruling does not exceed two cases:

1- The first case:

ordinary rulings, which are all rulings issued by all types of courts, whether general, commercial, the Board of Grievances, labor, personal status, or even criminal. The basic principle is that the rulings issued by those courts are ordinary rulings, and the period for objecting to them is (30) thirty days, and their calculation begins from the date of receipt of the copy of the ruling.

2- The second case:

Urgent rulings, which are rulings issued on specific topics that have an urgent nature and are specified in accordance with the system. Among these topics are issues of alimony, child custody, travel bans, and other various issues. The system has set a deadline for objecting to these rulings

How to object to a ruling

Duration of objection to the criminal ruling

The period of objection to the criminal ruling does not differ from the rest of the rulings, as it is limited to a period of (30) days starting from the date of receipt of the copy of the ruling, in accordance with what is stipulated in Article (194) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which states: “The period of objection to the request for appeal or review is thirty days”.

The most important (8) tips when writing a memorandum of objection to a ruling

In order to be transparent and professional in the information we share with you, we do not hide from you that writing memoranda of objection to judicial rulings is not an easy task, as it requires a number of skills and faculties such as extensive experience in cases of all kinds, the ability to express ourselves through writing in a strong and clear form, and other matters.

But if the task of writing an objection memorandum is not easy, it is still possible even if you are not specialized, and we at the office of lawyer Abdul Majeed Al Rashid for Law and Legal Consultations share with you the most important tips that you must take into consideration when starting to formulate an objection to a ruling issued against you, which are:

1- Research into qualitative jurisdiction:

The courts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are multiple, including general, commercial, labor, personal status, traffic, and criminal courts. The system has specified for each of these courts specific types of lawsuits that it has jurisdiction to hear, and one court cannot encroach on the jurisdiction of another court. For example, real estate rent cases are limited exclusively to general courts, and therefore; If the lawsuit in which the ruling you wish to formulate an objection to relates to a real estate rent and the ruling was issued by the Labor Court, then here you must maintain in your objection the lack of specific jurisdiction of the court to hear the lawsuit.

2- Verifying the status of the opponents in the lawsuit:

The lawsuit is only accepted by someone with a status, and by someone with a status. For example: If the contract in question was concluded with a party other than the one in whose favor the ruling was issued, then here you must maintain in your objection the absence of his status in the lawsuit, and without a doubt the Court of Appeal will rule to overturn the ruling; because the plea of absence of status can be made at any stage of the lawsuit It is one of the basic initial conditions that must be met in the case in order for the ruling to be issued correctly.

3- The basis of your objection is based on a document:

Do not rely in writing the objection on the transmitted speech, as it does not affect the ruling in any way, and the Court of Appeal does not consider it. Therefore, in order for your objection to have an effect, try to base it on the regulatory articles and regulations that support the validity of the reasons you rely on in your objection. You can derive these grounds from the regulations, rules, judicial rulings, and principles issued by the Supreme Court.

4- Gather your evidence and proofs:

Before you begin drafting an objection, read the judgment instrument and all documents related to the lawsuit carefully and more than once. I seek from your reading to gather the largest number of evidence and proofs supporting the validity of the reasons for your objection. This evidence may be declarations issued by the opponent that weaken his position, or the presence of contradictions in the judgment itself, whether in the reasons or the operative part, and other evidence and clues.

5- Clarity and accuracy:

Never try to elaborate on the objection memorandum, but rather rely on an uninterrupted focus in formulating the reasons for the objection, and make the wording clear and concise, and avoid emotional or offensive expressions by the judge who issued the ruling or by the opponents, as the appeals judge only cares about the errors of the ruling, so focus on that.

6- Writing the request in the objection:

This is essential and extremely important data when formulating objections, and it contains a large number of non-specialists who wish to file an objection to a ruling issued against them, as the executive regulations for methods of objecting to rulings have stipulated that the request must be written in the objection submitted, otherwise the Court of Appeal will rule to reject the objection because it does not meet the required conditions.

7- Signing the objection pages:

Be careful when submitting the objection to the Court of Appeal before signing all the objection pages. We emphasize that the signature must be on all pages and not the last page. This is also a mandatory formal statement without which the objection will not be accepted.

8- Attaching the agency:

If the objection will be submitted by proxy on behalf of the convicted person [the objector], the agent must attach a copy of his agency to the memorandum of objection to the ruling, otherwise the objection will be rejected in form

These were the most important tips that we can share with you to help you write a memorandum of objection to a court ruling issued against you. In any case, we at the office of Lawyer Abdul Majeed Al Rashid for Law and Legal Consultations specialize in all types of cases, and we have extensive legal experience that has enabled us to formulate strong objections to court rulings. We are pleased to have you contact us to help you in this regard.

How to object to a ruling

Summary of the memorandum of objection to the ruling

Upon completion of writing the objection memorandum, the objector immediately proceeds to submit his objection to the Court of Appeal, but when he begins to follow the specific steps for submitting the objection on the Najez platform – as we will explain below – he is surprised to find a box on Najez called “Objection Summary“.

Most objectors neglect this box and simply refer to the detailed objection memorandum. This is a major mistake, as in addition to the fact that the objection summary is one of the data required by the system when submitting an objection to a ruling, it also has a significant impact on the acceptance of your objection.

The first thing appellate judges will see is a summary of the objection. Therefore, if this summary is clearly worded and provides concise, understandable reasons that reveal errors in the ruling, this will prompt appellate judges to review your detailed objection memorandum and thoroughly examine it, which will lead to the ruling against you being overturned, God willing.

As for the nature of the summary, it is a specific number of letters amounting to (2000) letters, including spaces, so try to summarize in them the most important reasons for your objection to the ruling.

How to file an objection to a ruling

After you finish preparing your objection, sign it, and write a summary of the objection, comes the stage of submitting it to the competent court of appeal, and below we share with you the practical steps for filing the objection:

1- Enter the Najez platform.

2- Log in either through the Nafath application or with Absher’s data.

3- Enter the “Judiciary” box.

4- Then click on the details of the case through the three small dots on the left.

5- A menu will appear on the right. Click on the “Orders” box.

6- Then click on the “New Request” box, which you will find at the top left of the screen.

7- Search for “Request to object to a ruling”, and click on it.

8- You will be taken to a page containing data to fill out. Choose the judgment instrument number.

9- Then choose “Appeal Type” (Pleading) Do not choose an audit.

10- Copy the objection note you wrote and paste it into the designated box.

11- Merge the memo attachments into one file (pdf), and attach it in the attachments box.

12- In the reasons for the request below, write the following “All reasons for the objection request have been submitted in the box designated for it above”.

13- Review all fields carefully, then click “Save and Send”.

14- Finally, make sure that the request has been uploaded successfully, by appearing in the requests box.

How to object to a ruling

What happens after objecting to the ruling?

After submitting an objection to the ruling, it goes through the following stages:

1- Once you confirm sending the objection request to Najez, it will appear in the “Requests” field with Najez, and you will find that the phrase “Waiting for the objection period to end“ is written next to it.

2- After the objection period expires, the objection will be considered by the Trial Chamber itself, which originally issued the ruling, noting that in most cases, after you enter the link specified for the session, you will not find anyone there, and then you will be surprised by the issuance of a session record in which the Chamber’s confirmation of its ruling is written, but there is nothing wrong with that. Rest assured, this does not cause any harm or impact on you.

3- After the Trial Chamber confirms its ruling, the entire transaction and your objection will be submitted to the competent Court of Appeal, and a hearing date will be set to consider the objection before it.

4- You must attend the appeal session, otherwise the court will rule to cancel the objection. After your attendance, the objection will be considered by the Appeals Chamber. In light of the opponents’ arguments and defense, the court will decide whether to uphold the contested ruling, cancel it, or amend it.

In the event that the ruling is upheld:

The ruling becomes final and enforceable in criminal cases, as it requires the issuance of an upholding decision by the Supreme Court.

If the judgment is overturned:

The case will be returned to the court that issued the contested judgment for further consideration.

In the event of a judgment being overturned:

the amended judgment will become the enforceable judgment.

How to object to a ruling

In conclusion,

it is advisable to seek the assistance of a lawyer specialized in Saudi systems to help formulate objection regulations and present the appropriate defense before the court, in order to ensure obtaining the best possible results, and we are pleased for you to communicate with the office of lawyer Abdul Majeed Al-Rashid Law Firm and legal consultations to support you in this regard.