'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎455] (514/714)

25^
THE GOVERNMENT 455
either m kind or 111 money value; while, if lack of means renders
this impossible, the criminal is soundly thrashed. All ordinary
criminal cases are brought before the hakim, or governor of a town ;
the moie important before the provincial governor or governor-
general. The ultimate court of appeal in each case is the king, of
whose sovereign authority these subordinate exercises of jurisdic
tion are merely a delegation, although it is rare that a suppliant at
any distance from the capital can make his complaint heard so far.
ihe power of life and death, which was formerly wielded with free
dom by the governor-general of a province, more especially if of
royal blood, is now reserved by the Shah ; and in an earlier chapter
I have related an iucident in which the Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. of Kuchan, having
attempted to revive the prerogative enjoyed by his predecessors,
found himself in abrupt collision with his sovereign. Justice, as
dispensed in this fashion by the officers of government in Persia,
obeys no law and follows no system. Publicity is the sole gua
rantee for fairness; but great is the scope, especially in the lower
grades, for pishkesh and the bribe. The daroghas have the reputa
tion of being both harsh and venal, and there are some who go so
far as to say that there is not a sentence of an official in Persia,
even of the higher ranks, that cannot be swayed by a pecuniary
■consideration.
Theoretically, the secular court takes cognisance of civil, just
as, according to the same criterion, the ecclesiastical court embraces
€mi cases cr ^ m ^ lia ^ cases. But the distinction is not less fallacious
tration bl ' ^ ari ^ ie other instance. The dread of the
civil court, or diwan-khaneh, with its crude justice and
the long avenues of bribery and rascality that it opens up, deters
suitors from submitting to its judgment civil cases of any complexity
or importance ; and such cases are, as a rule, referred in the first
place to private arbitration. Dr. Wills, who has written a most
interesting account of the Persian law in its every-day or working
aspect, 1 names questions of contracts, titles to landed property,
disputed wills, intestate succession, the boundaries or shares of
lands, the recovery of debts and bankruptcy, as among the cases
which are commonly decided in this fashion. A mejilis, or informal
councd of leading merchants, is convoked in the house of a mullah
or leading citizen. Both sides state their case ; the documents are
produced and inspected; and a decision, which is almost always in
1 Persia as it is, caps. v. vi. ,