Saudi Arabia approves new Law of Evidence

Saudi Arabia approves new Law of Evidence

Last week, Saudi Arabia officially approved their new law of Evidence. The new law intends to improve the country's legal system. The legislation is one of four major legislative projects proposed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year, along with the personal status law, the civil transactions law, and the penal code for discretionary sanctions. The law of Evidence is expected to eliminate inconsistencies in the court.

The Council approved the law of Ministers. It consisted of multiple provisions that resulted in a qualitative leap in the procedures for various parts of presenting, examining, and making decisions on Evidence at the Kingdom's courts and other judicial institutions.

A few features of the new law are as follows:

• The law is divided into 11 chapters and various sections that deal with and examine existing evidence regulations and apply them to commercial and civil activities.
• The statute establishes a precise procedure for interrogating and presenting deaf and hard of hearing people's testimony. The law requires that all facts be supported by considerable Evidence in order for the court to make a solid and failsafe verdict in the case.
• The law empowers courts to extract Evidence using a variety of scientific approaches, including digital means. In collaboration with the Supreme Judiciary Council, the Minister of Justice will issue regulations for electronic procedures for presenting and examining Evidence and disseminating judgements based on this.
• Unless it contradicts any provisions of the law, the law allows litigants to offer Evidence in accordance with the tradition or custom prevalent among them in their culture. Evidence can also be presented by administering various types of oaths.
• There is a chapter dedicated to relying on the expertise and selecting a technical expert to resolve the dispute at hand.
• According to the law, a confession is judicial if the plaintiff confesses the actuality of the allegations framed before the court. In contrast, an admission is non-judicial if it does not occur before the court or occurs during another case. The confession must be made either openly or implicitly verbally or in writing, and it will not be accepted if it is discovered to be false.
• According to the legislation, the court must also avoid any attempt to coerce or influence the witness in the name of his testimony.

There'd be no instances in which the witness is harmed due to his testimony.

Thus, the law of Evidence is aligned with Saudis 2030 Vision, as well as international standards.