'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎256r] (514/862)

HISTORICAL ORIGINS 387
with a civil court of Small Causes and Sharia courts of Moslem Law.
Political officers were given power to deal with urgent cases, and a
Board of Arbitration was set up at Hilla. Jurisdiction in criminal
cases was reserved for the military governors and political officers.
The systems of law administered by these courts were the existing
Ottoman code and the Moslem Sharia law. The courts of the non-
Moslem communities continued to deal with matters of personal
status as under the Ottoman system.
Reform of Legal Administration. After the armistice of 1918 the
administration of justice was reorganized. A central Judicial Depart
ment under a Judicial Secretary was formed at Baghdad and the
system described below was applied to Basra vilayet, so that hence
forth the administration of justice throughout Iraq became uniform.
The system of civil courts which had existed in essence before 1914
was re-established and extended. A Court of Appeal was set up in
Baghdad and Courts of First Instance there and elsewhere (p. 400).
Civil ‘Peace’ Courts were opened, but the jurisdiction of Sharia
courts was limited at this time to the litigation of Sunni Moslems,
the other communities being given access to the civil courts which
invariably referred questions of personal status to the respective reli
gious authorities. The general Ottoman law remained the basis of
the civil legislation and was amended in detail as the necessity arose.
The application of the Criminal Code of Ottoman law was found to
be impossible. New codes—the Baghdad Penal Code and the Bagh
dad Criminal Procedure Regulations—were therefore substituted for
them as temporary measures. The former was a simplification and
adaptation of the Ottoman Penal Code, Egyptian law being utilized
in the main. The Criminal Procedure Regulations were based on the
Sudan Criminal Procedure Code, which in its turn was generally
based on the Indian regulations and British military law. Under this
legislation the system of criminal courts was instituted which still
exists (p. 401). The highest courts were constituted of British judges
or Political Officers; their findings required confirmation by the
Civil Commissioner. Political Officers could revise the decisions
given by Iraqi magistrates subordinate to them.
When the Judicial Department was made independent of the De
partment of Revenue, the Waqf Department was attached to it. This
is the department of the Government that deals with Moslem reli
gious endowments and administers their properties (p. 402). The
department was divided between administrative and learned officials,
the latter dealing with religious regulations and appointments.