The court of cassation consultation chamber in Bahraini law : a conflict between civil and common law traditions

Abstract EN

"The Court of Cassation (CC) is the highest judicial authority in interpreting the law, in addition to its essential role in unifying national judicial practice.

Recently, and as an attempt to reduce the burden on CC, several judicial systems have introduced what is known as the CC Consultation Chamber, the objective of which is to preliminary review appeals to rule on its admissibility.

The Bahraini legislator along with other GCC and Arab states have adopted this approach.

Nevertheless, the particular significance of this approach is not only in respect to the notion of the consultation chamber, but is rather related to the recognition of established legal principles (jurisprudence) as a formal ground to reject an appeal.

A position that triggers legal questions in relation to the fundamental values in legal systems of civil law tradition where precedents are not classified as a formal source of law.

Hence, it is the aim of this paper to analyze the role played by the consultation chamber in the Bahraini CC when exercising its powers in relation to ‘jurisprudence’ as a ground to rejecting appeals.

The paper tries to address this particular matter by reference to other jurisdictions in civil and common law systems.

Furthermore, the paper pays particular attention to one of the recent cases brought before the Bahraini CC where parties have felt that “judicial justice” was jeopardized due to the consultation chamber’s decision.

The paper concludes that the present situation as it stands today is an illustration of the conflict between common and civil law traditions and recommends abandonment of ‘jurisprudence’ as a formal ground to reject an appeal in civil law traditions."