Many cases filed in courts these days are a waste of time and energy. Too many of them could have been settled — and should have been settled — by family elders or well-known people in our society. In the past society considered personal disputes getting out in public to be shameful. Until quite recently, the district chief — the ‘umda’ — solved a number of local disputes in his area. Most importantly, the disputants formerly accepted with good grace the solutions offered by Islamic scholars and elders. Experienced people say that disputes in those days were very simple. They went to court in most cases either to sort out some complications or to know what the Shariah ruling was.

But today, as in so many other areas, things have changed a great deal. If you visit a court today you will certainly be surprised and feel sorry for those who have filed lawsuits which ought never to have come to court, which should have been settled in the old traditional way.

If you ask someone what brought him to court, he will say that he wanted to teach his opponent a lesson or keep him worried or make him unable to sleep. Someone told me that he would file as many cases as possible against his rival. Why, I wonder? Even mediators cannot stop these people or talk them out of their determination.

In my opinion the present rules and regulations are not enough to control this phenomenon. At present a person can file a lawsuit free of any charge. This allows troublemakers to keep people, court and administrative authorities busy for no reason other than to satisfy their whims and fancies. Many countries have solved this problem by imposing fees or charges on those who bring the case and those against whom a judgment has been passed.

This should not be seen as a move to close the doors of justice as people must not be prevented from demanding their rights. In the new court procedures, there is an article that allows a judge to refuse a lawsuit or ask the accuser to pay damages if the case is groundless.

This is not enough in our opinion. At the same time we believe that implementation of this regulation in many cases will stop troublemakers who love to create conflicts.