"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [و‎‎١‎٢‎٥] (٧٣٨/٢٥٤)

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION
243
Prussia). Its governor (mutesarrif or mushlr) was necessarily
a Christian and its administrative council consisted of four
Maronites, three Druses, two Greek Orthodox Christians,
one Greek Catholic, one Moslem, and one Meta wall. The
sanjaq was divided into seven kazas, of which four were
Maronite, one Greek Orthodox, one Greek Catholic, and one
(Shuf) Moslem. The mudirs were nominated by the kaim-
makams and appointed by the governor. Each village had
its own sheikh. The judicial system was assimilated to that
of the empire in 1879. The judges of each kaza were appointed
by the governor in accordance with the religious character
of the inhabitants. There were two courts of appeal, civil
and criminal, including representatives of all the religious
persuasions of the province. The appointments were made
by the governor. Commercial cases were tried by the tribunal
of commerce in Beirut. The police were enrolled from the
various religious communities of the province in proportion to
their numbers. The head of the police was always a Maronite.
The province enjoyed a system of taxation of its own.
Until 1879 the Druses of the Hauran were entirely inde
pendent of the Turkish administration of Syria and between
that date and the revolt of 1895-6 they still enjoyed a large
measure of independence. After the settlement of 1896 they
only retained the privilege of exemption from military
service.
Judicial System
The law courts under the Ottoman government were of
three grades, corresponding to the administrative units
kaza, sanjaq, and vilayet. Below the courts of first instance,
in the kazas, the councils of the nahiyehs and the villages acted
as courts of conciliation with a limited competence. As
already explained two systems of law were administered
throughout the empire, so that in each administrative unit
two courts divided the jurisdiction. The courts of the sheri'ah,
regulated by the law of 1859, were under the supreme control
of the Sheikh el-Islam, resident in Constantinople, and the
Q 2