Threatening Fine as a Mechanism Instead of Imprison the Debtor

(A study in Kuwaiti law)

Abstract

This research aims to study the threatening fine in the Kuwaiti legal system as one of the means of compulsory enforcement on the debtor. This study comes in an attempt to assess the adequacy of the legal texts and to shed light on the legislative deficiency in the provisions governing the threatening fine.

  The importance of the threatening fine is evident in that it is the most effective means for a creditor to compel a debtor to carry out its obligations, after the new bankruptcy law issued under Law No. 71 of 2020 promulgating the bankruptcy law Article 292 of Decree-Law No. (38) of 1980 issuing The Law of Procedures, which regulates the provisions of debtor imprisonment.

 The Kuwaiti legislator took this step, in line with modern trends, to prohibit imprisonment of the debtor to force execution in light of the existence of legal means that lead to the same purpose, and thus the creditor loses a means as long as it was harsh to compel him to implement.

The study concluded that the Kuwaiti legislator has regulated the provisions of the threatening fine in a way that secures for this method the arrangement of its intended purpose. On the one hand, the judge gave wide authority in determining the threatening fine, believing in its role as a tool of coercion and pressure, not compensation and compensation for harm. On the other hand, he made the judgment on it temporary, so that the judge can withdraw from the curse whenever the debtor executes it.

The study concluded with a set of recommendations for the Kuwaiti legislator, the most important of which is to re-address the threatening fine in the pleading law, as this is its appropriate place considering it is one of the means of implementation. In addition to not restricting the judge’s authority regarding the threatening fine, the creditor’s nullity is not limited to the court’s hand in ensuring the execution of judgments.