مجموعة ٢٥/ ١٨ "مراسيم ملكية بريطانية: قطر: السلطة القضائية على الأجانب في قطر" [و‎‎١‎٨‎٦] (٦٣٥/٣٧١)

5. ahen I came to the matter of explaining the classes
of persons in respect 01 whom Jurisdiction would be exercised
by the Political Agent, an even greater difficulty arose over
the provision in Article B(iii) of the draft Qatar Order-in-
.ouncil to the effect that the Political Agent would exercise
jurisdiction, even if only through the Joint Court, over :)atar
subjects registered as being in regular service of British sub
jects or foreigners* Admittedly a similar provision exists in
the Bahrain and Kuwait Capers-in-Council (a fact which did not
appeal to the Shaikh as being of the faintest importance), but
the Bhaikh and his advisers were evidently convinced that the
result, if not tile object, of this clause is to nullify his
Jurisdiction over non-British I'Csloms* ( nee more he took his
3 and on the tact that nothing remotely approaching such a pro
vision had been mentioned in any previous discussion or communi
cation. It is essential to remember that in Qatar we deal with
people who are so intensely suspicious that no ordinary process
of reason can be expected to prevail unless the Shaikh and his
advisers can see clear and definite advantage to themselves.
Here again I would enquire if a provision of this nature is ac
tually essential. I do not of course know whether this provi
sion has been found of any advantage in Kuwait, but so far as
Bahrain is concerned it is a dead letter. I am unable to dis
cover that any Bahrain subject is or lias ever been registered
at the Agency as being in the service of a British subject or
foreigner, and even the Adviser to the Bahrain Government was
ignorant of the existence of this provision in the Bahrain tfden-
in-Council. I have now discovered that the ostensible purpose
of this provision in the Bahrain Order-in-Council was to obtain
jurisdiction over Bahrain subjects in the domestic service of
ritishers or foreigners, though of course it might well be
argued/-