Every year, from the beginning of July until the end of September, Oman’s courts enter the “judicial holiday”, a period in which they operate under special rules set by the Judicial Authority Law. This blog post outlines what the judicial holiday means and how the courts operate during it.
Article 58 of the Judicial Authority Law sets the judicial holiday from 1 July to 30 September each year. Because of the critical nature of the courts’ work, judges are not usually allowed to take leave outside the judicial holiday unless they were required to work during the judicial holiday or in other exceptional circumstances.
Setting a fixed period for the judicial holiday makes the operation of the courts predictable and helps those dealing with the courts plan their cases better. However, it is worth noting that judges do not actually take the entire three months off. The law allows Supreme Court judges and their equivalents to take up a maximum of two months off, and all other judges a maximum of 50 days.
The courts do not shut down entirely during the judicial holiday, as urgent cases can still be heard. The law itself does not define “urgent cases” and instead leaves this to a decision of the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council. However, this decision is not published in the Official Gazette.
It is important to be aware of the dates of the judicial holiday if you are involved in litigation. Hearings in cases that are not urgent are unlikely to take place between 1 July and 30 September.
To learn more about the work of the judiciary, we highly recommend reading the Judicial Authority Law at the link below:
