KUWAIT.

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Dustur dawlat al-Kuwayt. First edition of the Arabic and English text of the constitution of the State of Kuwait, issued by the Government's Press.Signed on 11 November 1962, it had been finalised by the Constitutional Assembly the previous year, under the auspices of Sheikh Abdullah III Al Sabah. After Kuwait's declaration of independence as a constitutional monarchy in June 1961, Iraq did not initially accept this outcome, until Kuwait received some backing from Britain and the Arab League. The document defines Kuwait as a "hereditary Emirate", with Arabic as its official language. It focuses on legislative, executive, and military powers. Among the "fundamental constituents" of the State are citizens' rights including "social security, social aid, and medical care" for the elderly, the sick, and the disabled, the inviolability of private property (with inheritance law being governed by the Islamic Sharia), social justice as the basis of the national economy, as well as freedom of opinion and presumed innocence until guilt is proven in front of a tribunal. It also declares that "Natural resources and all revenues therefrom are the property of the State".

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