File 705/1916 Pt 2 'Arab revolt: Arab reports; Sir M Sykes' reports' [‎166r] (329/450)

APPENDIX (A).
A DMINISTRATION
of Justice in the Occupied Territories of Lower Mesopotamia.
(By Miss Gertrude Bell.)
It was recognised from the first that the Foreign Jurisdiction Act of 1890 ceased
to be applicable in these territories from the moment they came under our military
occupation; that any laws made or administered must be based solely on the fact of
effective military occupation, in conformity with the provisions of section 3 of the Hague
Convention, and that in consequence such enactments must take the form of Orders
issued by the army commander, who can by notification depute his powers to civil
judicial officers and regularise the exercise of them in the form of codes or otherwise.
The recognition of the capitulations in the occupied territory during the war was
judged inadmissible.
The fact that practically all Turkish civil and judicial officials had left their posts
before the occupation and that most of those who remained were not willing to continue
their functions, was considered to make any general application of Turkish law imprac
ticable ; but the general spirit of the Hague Convention, which required that the law
of the country previous to the occupation should, so far as possible, be administered,
was conformed to by the ‘Iraq code, which provided that, subject to stated exceptions,
Turkish civil law should be applicable. The exceptions, however, include the bulk of
cases coming before the Courts.
The judicial staff at present consists of:—
1 . The Senior Judicial Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel S. G. Knox, C.I.E., barrister-at-
law, exercising the powers conferred on the District and Sessions Judge
under the ‘Iraq Occupied Territories Code.
2. The Junior Judicial Officer, Captain C. F. Mackenzie, exercising the powers of
Assistant Judge and District Magistrate under the same code.
Together with the Assistant Judicial Officer, he was invested with the powers of
a Small Cause Court Judge.
3 . Assistant Judicial Officer, Khan Sahib Agha Mirza Muhammad, invested: (1)
with the powers of a first-class Subordinate Judge and Magistrate ; and
( 2 ) with those of a Small Cause Court Judge. He is President of the Court
of W ards.
4 . Begistrar of the Basra Court of Small Causes, Mr. F. F. Chapgur, invested
& with the powers of a judge for the trial of suits the subject matter of which
did not exceed 20 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. in value.
As regards the subordinate establishment employed by the Courts, 9 Indians have
been imported and 34 local men are employed, of whom 25 are Mohammedans of ‘Iraq
origin.
Courts. —The Courts are five in number:—
1. District Court.
2. Court of Assistant Judge.
3. Court of Subordinate Judge.
4. Begistrar Court of Small Causes. 0
5 . Court of Wards, established August 1915. President, Khan Sahib Mirza
Muhammad.
S u it s .—The total number of suits instituted during 1915 was 1,213, amounting m
value to 1,305,900 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. ; of these 1,058 were disposed of. P T j- • . ,i
Indian Laws.—The experiment of introducing a number of Indian laws into the
occupied territories will be watched with interest. Indian laws are now_ quoted m e
Courts by litigants at least as frequently as Turkish, and on y one ms ance q ne
litigant’s objectiug to come under Indian laws has occurred^ t was an app ica 1 ° 1 p > 5
the'President of the Court of Wards to the District Court for the removal of a guardian
alleged to be unsatisfactory^ It was contended that this case shou d e rans erred o
the Sharah The case is still sub judice. , • r* i • +
Fees.—A fairly substantial court fee is charged on the presentation of a plamt,
with the object of preventing unnecessary and light-hearted litigation such as had
c