The Mixed Courts of Egypt: an Anniversary Assessment

Abstract

October 1985 sees the 110th anniversary of the founding of the Mixed Courts of Egypt by the Khedive Ismail in 1875. Designed by Nubar Pasha to be part of the Khedive's great plans for Egypt, and the result of intense diplomatic and legal activity in the preceding years, the Mixed Courts led to a radical reform of Egypt's chaotic nineteenth century legal system, where consular courts competed with Government tribunals and religious courts for jurisdiction over and enforcement of a multitude of claims. This article seeks to examine the general contribution of the Mixed Courts to Egyptian legal history in view of their anniversary.' The Mixed Courts had especially drafted Codes, based on a Civil Law format but with significant Islamic and local principles. Judges were appointed by the Khedive from leading Egyptian and foreign candidates,2 and at all times the judiciary sat under the authority of the rulers of Egypt. The establishment of the courts, hearing disputes between natives and foreigners, and between foreigners of different nationalities, was so successful that new, so-called Native, courts were set up in 1883, after the British Occupation of 1882, to deal with disputes between natives. The 1883 Codes were based on those of 1875, and the judges, mostly Egyptian, tended to follow the MLxed Courts' interpretation of the law. In fact, the Mixed Courts were, despite the involvement of foreign judges and staff, more independent of the English Advisers in Egypt than the Native Courts, because the latter were subject to political influence from both the Khedive and his English Advisers. The Mixed Courts, by being the foremost judicial authority between 1875 and 1949 (when their functions were transferred to new National Courts) sat in times of great political and social change in Egypt and the Middle East. Their decisions reflect the human and commercial history of the area, and involved complicated issues of law as well as more personal and individual matters. The problems of sovereign immunity, sequestration of enemy property, international banking, and maritime commerce were shadowed by the recognition and enforcement of divorces, legitimacy, and marriage contracts affeciing people of different religions and nationalities, and in between were a whole range of the usual types of legal disputes, many, such as trademarks and patents, and industrial injuries, without any developed theories at all that could be drawn upon for inspiration, either from inside or outside the country.