The Council of Ministers is to form a Special Higher Commission of judicial experts charged with writing laws that will serve as a basis for Shariah court verdicts, legal sources told Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat. According to the sources, the Commission, which will be independent and directly responsible to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, will issue three types of laws: financial transaction laws, civil status laws, and penal code laws. The creation of a Commission with the power to write such laws was stipulated in legislation on the organizational arrangements of the judiciary and courts for the settlement of disputes which was endorsed by King Abdullah on April 3, 2005. The Saudi judiciary bases its verdicts on the Hanbali school of thought, but the Commission, which has not yet been formed, will be empowered to review the most common rules in the four Islamic schools of thought: the Hanbali, Maliki, Shafei, and Hanafi. Commenting on choosing the most common rules from within the four schools of thought, the legal source said, “It is an attempt to widen the horizon and scope of judicial understanding in the public interest.” He pointed out that verdicts are principally based upon the most common ruling supported by an authenticated testimony, and that now the Commission would have the freedom to choose rules from the other schools of thoughts, thus providing justice, while minimizing the chance of wide differences in court verdicts. As of now, judges have complete discretion to set sentences, except in cases where Shariah outlines a punishment, such as capital crimes. This means no two judges would likely hand down the same verdict for similar crimes. The move to form a Special Higher Commission is seen as part of judicial reforms initiated by KingAbdullah last October. The reforms include establishing a Supreme Court as well as commercial, personal status and labor tribunals A budget of SR 7 billion riyals has been allocated for the “King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Project to revamp the judicial sector, which aims at upgrading the judiciary and developing it in a comprehensive and integrated manner,” according to the Saudi Press Agency. The new Judiciary and Court of Grievances Laws stresses the independence of the judges and calls for the establishment of specialized courts, including personal status, commercial, penal and labor tribunals. The Supreme Court will take over all the functions of the Supreme Judiciary Council, which had served as the Kingdom's highest tribunal, except the administrative aspects of the judiciary. __
