"Alexandria, Cairo, and Zagazig, and a Court of Appeal 66 at Alexandria:

"Now, therefore, her Majesty, by virtue and in exercise "of the powers in this behalf by the Foreign Jurisdiction. "Acts, 1843 to 1875, or otherwise in her vested, is pleased, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, to order, " and it is hereby ordered, as follows:

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As regards all such matters and cases as arise after the "time when the Egyptian Courts aforesaid begin to sit and "act judicially, and as come within the jurisdiction of those Courts, the operation of the Order of her Majesty the Queen in Council for the regulation of Consular jurisdic"tion in the dominions of the Sublime Ottoman Porte made "at Windsor December 12, 1873, and of every Order amending the same, shall be and the same is hereby sus"pended, until it shall seem fit to her Majesty the Queen, "by and with the advice of her Privy Council, to other"wise order."

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"The Queen by this Order in Council" (says Mr. Freeland)" after referring to the three Courts of First Instance at "Alexandria, Cairo, and Zagazig, and the Court of Appeal "at Alexandria, which had been or were about to be estab"lished, suspended, by virtue of the powers vested in her "by the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts, 1843 to 1875, the opera"tion of a previous Order regulating Consular jurisdiction "in the dominions of the Sublime Ottoman Porte, so far as "regarded all such matters and cases as should arise after "the time when the Egyptian Courts should begin to sit "and act judicially and as should come within the juris"diction of those Courts. The other countries parties to "the new system have acted, mutatis mutandis, in a similar

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Thus, then, one main point has been gained. That "main point is: the application by a single jurisdiction, in "which foreign magistrates are in a majority, of a legislation. "uniform, in so far as civil and commercial matters are con"cerned.

“The new tribunals are composed as follows. There are "three Courts of First Instance and one Court of Appeal. "Each of the former is composed of seven judges, four "foreigners and three natives. The Court of Appeal comprises eleven magistrates, seven foreigners and four natives. "Decisions are given in the Courts of First Instance by five "judges, three foreigners and two natives, and in the Court "of Appeal by eight magistrates, five of whom foreigners "and three natives. The tribunals are each of them pre"sided over by a foreign magistrate elected by themselves. "In commercial suits the tribunals are assisted by two "merchants, one a native and one a foreigner. The foreign assessors are elected by the commercial notables of the "colony. England, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Italy, the United States, Belgium, Holland, Norway, "Denmark, Sweden, and Greece have all contributed to "the judicial body.

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"The new tribunals take cognizance: 1. Of all suits

affecting immovable property. 2. In matters civil or "commercial, of all disputes between foreigners of different "nationalities, except those affecting personal status. 3. In "matters of police, of simple contraventions and crimes "or offences committed against the magistrates and the "officers of justice, while in the exercise, or arising out of "the exercise, of their functions. Charges of fraudulent "bankruptcy are still reserved for the Consular Courts. "Certain reservations are made in favour of Consuls and "their functionaries and Catholic and Protestant establish"ments.

"The Egyptian codes which are now administered in these "Courts, civil, commercial, and maritime, are compiled from "the French Law. The procedure is that of France. "Certain modifications in favour of brevity have been "made, but, substantially, France has given to Egypt her "laws, as well as the most generally used of the three judicial languages, French, Italian, and Arabic.

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"Such, in brief outline, is, and, until the year 1880,

"will be, the constitution of the new judicial system in 'Egypt" (n).

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CCCXXXVIIIc. I proceed to mention some of the more important Regulations with respect to English subjects generally in the dominions of the Porte. These are practically the same as those relating to other Christian States (o).

Art. IX., as to administration of Justice in Civil Suits, provides, "that in all transactions, matters, and business "occurring between the English and merchants of the "countries to them subject, their attendants, interpreters, " and brokers, and any other persons in our dominions, with regard to sales and purchases, credits, traffic, or security, "and all other legal matters, they shall be at liberty to "repair to the judge, and there make a hoget' or public "authentic act, with witness, and register the suit, to the "end that, if in future any difference or dispute shall arise,

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(n) See Mr. Freeland's Paper on the Mixed Tribunals of Egypt. Report of Sixth Ann. Conference of the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations, p. 59.

For general authorities, see Codes égyptiens précédés du Règlement d'organisation judiciaire. (Alexandrie: Imprimerie française, A. Mourès, Square Ibrahim, 1875.)

This includes, besides the Règlement, the Code civil, the Code du Commerce maritime, the Code de Procédure, the Code pénal, and the Code d'Instruction criminelle.

(1) Papers respecting Judicial Reforms in Egypt, presented to Parliament 1868.

(2) Report of the International Commission upon Consular Jurisdiction sitting at Cairo (commonly called Nubar Pasha's Report), presented to the House of Lords.

(3) Agreement between the British and Egyptian Governments respecting Judicial Reforms in Egypt.

(4) Order in Council, Feb. 5, 1876, reciting the establishment of three Courts of First Instance and one Court of Appeal in Egypt, and a suspension of the previous Order of Dec. 12, 1873, and of every Order amending the same.

(5) Treaties, &c. regulating the Trade between Great Britain and Turkey in force on Jan. 1, 1875. By Sir Edward Hertslet, C.B. (Librarian and Keeper of the Papers, Foreign Office.)

(0) Hertslet's Treaties regulating Trade, &c. p. 11.

"they may both observe the said register and 'hoget,' and "when the suit shall be found conformable thereto, it shall “be observed accordingly.

"Should no such hoget,' however, have been obtained "from the judge, and false witnesses only are produced, their "suit shall not be listened to, but justice be always adminis"tered according to the legal hoget.””

Art. XV., as to presence of interpreters at trials, provides, "that in all litigations occurring between the English or subjects of England and any other person, the "judges shall not proceed to hear the cause without the "presence of an interpreter, or one of his deputies."

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Art. XVI. provides, as to disputes between Englishmen," that if there happen any suit or other difference or dispute amongst the English themselves, the decision "thereof shall be left to their own Ambassador or Consul, "according to their custom, without the judge or other "governors our slaves intermeddling therein."

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Art. XXIV. provides, as to the presence of the ambassador, consul, or interpreter at a trial, “that if an Englishman, or other subject of that nation, shall be in"volved in any lawsuit, or other affair connected with law, "the judge shall not hear nor decide thereon until the am"bassador, consul, or interpreter shall be present.

"And all suits exceeding the value of 4,000 aspers shall "be heard at the Sublime Porte, and nowhere else.”

On June 18, 1867, an Imperial rescript granting to foreigners the right to hold real property in the Ottoman Empire was promulgated by the Sultan (p).

Art. I. of this law admits foreigners, on the same footing as Ottoman subjects and without other conditions, to the right of holding urban and rural real property throughout the whole extent of the empire, excepting the province of the Hedjaz.

Art. II. assimilates foreigners who are proprietors of real

(p) Hertslet's Treaties as to Turkey and Great Britain, p. 73–77.

property, urban or rural, to Ottoman subjects in all that concerns such property.

The legal effect of such assimilation is to oblige foreigners to conform to all laws and regulations governing the enjoyment, transmission, alienation, and hypothecation of landed property; to subject them to the payments of all imposts, of whatever kind, upon real property, and to render them directly amenable, either as plaintiffs or defendants, and even when both parties are foreign subjects, to the Ottoman Civil Courts in regard to all questions relating to landed property, as if they were Ottoman proprietors and without the power of availing themselves in such matters of their personal nationality. The immunities attaching, under the terms of treaties, to their persons and personal property, are, however, reserved.

Art. III. deals with the bankruptcy of foreign owners of real property, and subjects them, in respect of such property, to the jurisdiction of the Ottoman authoritics and Civil Courts.

Art. IV. authorizes a foreign subject to dispose by gift or will of such part of his real property as may legally be so disposed of, and provides that the succession to real property not disposed of, or which may not legally be disposed of by gift or will, shall be governed by the Ottoman law.

The fifth and last Article provides that every foreign subject shall enjoy the benefit of the present law, so soon as the Power to which he belongs shall have acceded to the arrangements proposed by the Sublime Porte for the exercise of the rights of property.

The foregoing law was brought into force as regards British subjects by a Protocol between Great Britain and Turkey, signed at Constantinople on July 28, 1868.

This Protocol declares, that the dwelling of every person inhabiting the Ottoman territory being inviolable, and no one being entitled to enter it without the consent of its master, unless in virtue of orders issued by the competent authority, and with the assistance of the magistrate or