Dr. Mugraby Brings Action Before the General Assembly of the Court of Cassation Against the State for its Responsibility For the Acts and Errors of the Court of Appeals Panel Chaired by Judge Bou Nassif

Beirut, December 22, 2003

Dr. Muhamad Mugraby, attorney at law, filed action before the General Assembly of the Court of Cassation against the state for its responsibility for the acts of the Beirut Court of Appeals Panel chaired by Judge Bou Nassif, based on the gross errors which were manifested in the acts and decisions of the said court panel, especially those which were made during the hearing of December 17, 2003. The action against the state is based on nine grounds, the most important of which being the adoption by the court of a letter issued by Mr. Chedid, ex-president of the Bar Association at Beirut ("BAB"), and a party to the lawsuit pending before the said court, relative to the subject of the same (which is the two decisions challenged in appeal), attributing to the internal bylaws of BAB the force of law, and recognizing the immediate enforceability for the said decisions in violation of the law.

Former president Chedid had sent a letter to the "First President of the Supreme Judiciary Council" asking him to circulate it to all courts in order to prevent Dr. Mugraby from practicing the legal profession, using for justification the text of an article in the BAB internal bylaws that holds all disciplinary decisions to be fully enforceable immediately. The internal bylaws, however, do not have the force of law and were not published in the Official Gazette; they were only published very recently in a special edition of the journal "Al-Adel" which appeared on December 1, 2003. The latter circulated Chedid's letter to all courts, and Judge Bou Nassif received a copy thereof and adopted it in spite of the fact that former president Chedid is a party to the lawsuit, and not an arbiter therein, and the fact that the two said decisions have been challenged in appeal.

Consequently, Dr. Mugraby filed a complaint with the Judicial Inspection Bureau. The general rule in force in Lebanon is that only categorical decisions, that is decisions that cannot be appealed anymore, have the executory force unless the law otherwise stipulates that they shall have full executory force. To that effect, Article 570 CCP provides: "No immediate execution may be commenced unless it is so ordered in the verdict, or where the judgment is given immediate effect by the force of law…" (Ref. Judge Tarek Ziadeh: Summary Jurisdiction Between Theory and Practice, P. 83).

The Court of Appeal was supposed to hold a hearing in the lawsuit on Wednesday December 24, 2003. But under Article 751 CCP the judges of the Twelfth Appellate Panel have automatically been disqualified until a final decision is issued in the action.