مجموعة ٢٥/ ١٨ "مراسيم ملكية بريطانية: قطر: السلطة القضائية على الأجانب في قطر" [و‎‎١‎٨‎٥] (٦٣٥/٣٦٩)

very frightened of King Ihn £>aud end vented me to give him e
written assurance that the governments of foreign Moslem States
would not object to his (l*e* the Shaikh's) decisions In cases
affecting non-British t/osloms. I stated that he need have no
anxiety provided he adheres to the principles of justice as re
cognised in lohammadan Law*
4* >$o far the discussion had been successful* Ifo argumentj
however, would Induce the shaikh to agree to the exclusion of
Corporations from this definition. He took his stand on the
fact that there had been no mention of Corporations in previous
discussions, and he said in effect that sooner than agree to
this exception he would prohibit the formation or operation of
any Moslem Corporation in qatar. I was unable to make effective
use of the arguments supplied in paragraph 2 of your Express
letter under reference (in which the use of the word "non-J o8lem M
is apparently an error), since it was evident that the Shaikh
felt strongly that the persons or classes of persons over whom
he hed agreed to jurisdiction being exercised by Hi* Majesty's
Government were exclusive and that he retained jurisdiction over
all ethers. It is true that lie had never asked for or proposed
jurisdiction over fcoslam Corporations; nor on the other hand
had we. Since ordinarily a "person” includes a "Corporation”,
the absence of any reference to a Moslem Corporation in previous
discussions creates a presumption in favour of the Shaikh rather
than in our favour, tfy personal view is that we should give way
on this point* It seems to me highly improbable that any such
Moslem Corporations would come into existence or operation in
^atarj and consequently no particular object is served by pur
suing the point* In other words It sesris to me an error to pre
judice the attainment of our main object by insisting on pro
viding for something which may never exist or which in any event
is of little or no interest.