The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) opened new courts specializing in resolving family disputes on Tuesday.

Reports said it is the first of a series of functional committees which aimed to make a faster, transparent and reliable legal system in the country.

The changes to the legal system would allow judges to use their own understanding of Islamic texts to pass verdicts and impose sentences on cases that involves complex commercial arguments to murder.

Like Us on Facebook

According to some analysts, changes to the legal system is a significant move to broaden social and economic reforms with a purpose of conforming Saudi arabia’s conservative traditions to the demands of the modern economy and population.

Judges equipped with extra training on special cases that includes divorce, alimony and child custody will be assigned to the newly opened family courts located in Riyadh, Medina, Mecca, Jeddah and Dammam.

The first set of commercial courts will be launched within four months while the courts specialising in labor and immigration issues and criminal cases will be opened afterwards, local media added.

Former U.S. ambassador to Riyadh Robert Jordan, who presently works as a partner at Abu Dhabi-based law firm Baker Botts, announced that the competency to do business depends on rule of law or nomocracy and compliance with international norms.

Jordan hopes the reform would beef up protection of Saudi citizens' human rights and commercial interests.

Saudi Arabia also introduced centers for judicial training and approved the appointment of thousands of new judges for the newly opened specialized courts to speed up legal processes.

According to some sources, King Abdullah appointed Justice Minister Mohammed al-Issa to lead the Supreme Judicial Council, a move that would give the latter power over the appointment and performance of judges.

Tags family courts, legal reform