'File 8/15 Arab Series - 1933-1939' [‎15r] (29/434)

by the Secretary of State for India to say that he suggests that it might he prefer
able to inform the Sultan “ that the contents of his letter are noted ” rather than
“ that the election has been noted ”, and to omit the word “ formal ” before “ re
cognition ” in informing him that the recognition of his successor must be deferred
until the latter’s actual accession to the Sultanate. Otherwise Secretary Sir
Samuel Hoare agrees with the proposal of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to
approve the course of action suggested in paragraph 13 of the despatch from the
Resident at Aden enclosed with your letter.
2. A copy of this letter is being sent to the Foreign Office and Air Ministry.
. ,, ( 28 )
{Received on 15th July 1933, with Political Secretary's letter No. 26, dated 29th June
1933.)
Enclosure in Foreign Office covering letter No. E. 2990/2990/25, dated 19th
June 1933.
Letter from His Majesty’s Minister, Jedda, to the Foreign Office, No. 139-
(1328/398/2), dated the 15th May 1933.
In paragraph 18 of the Jedda Report for January to March 1932 (F. 139-N./32),
Mr. Hope Gill mentioned a Sa’udi Commercial Code, the serial publication of which
had been completed during that period. On my return to Jedda at the end of
May 1 found awaiting me a portly volume containing a rough manuscript transla
tion of this enormous document, which took up much space in successive numbers of
the Umm-al-Qura newspaper from August 7th, 1931 to February 26th, 1932 inclusive.
The vicissitudes of the remainder of the year made it impossible for me to give
attention to it. Now that the storms of rebellion had died down, I owe it to the
industry of my translators, if for no other reason, to give some brief account of so
considerable an addition to the modern legislation of this country. It will be
very brief indeed, as the code is a mere white elephant at present. It would be
useless labour to check the translation, to have it typed and to study it closely.
2. The code is not one which the ordinary religious courts of this country
would ever dream of applying. It is designed solely for the purpose of tribunals
of the type known as Majlis-at-Tujar or Council of Merchants. Only one such
court exists at present. It has its being in Jedda but I understand that its juris
diction in commercial cases is supposed to extend to Mecca. So far as I know
it is a very inept body but one seldom hears it mentioned at all, never, in my ex
perience, in connexion with any important commercial suit.
3. The code provided for the use of this non-professional tribunal consists
of four parts. Part I (Articles 1 to 149) deals with commerce on land and contains
chapters dealing with the usual matters, including companies, agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , bills of
exchange and insolvency. Part II (Articles 150 to 431) deals with maritime
commerce and comprises, among others, chapters on the ownership of ships, seamen,
bills of lading, freight and charter-party, passages, hypothecation of ships, etc.,
marine insurance and average. Part III (Articles 432 to 533) is devoted to the
organisation and procedure of the Majlis-at-Tujar. Part IV (Articles 534 to 622)
contains schedules of fees for various proceedings. Article 623 makes the code
operative from the date of publication, presumably the date of the last instalment,
as the code is not otherwise dated. The last Article, 624, charges the Viceroy
with the execution of its provisions, a clause which indicates that, even in principle,
the code was intended only to apply to the Hejaz, which at the time had not yet
been merged in a unified Sa’udi Arabia.
4. I le^rn from Fuad Bey Hamza, who was probably the principal author
of the code, that it was based mainly on the old Ottoman codes (see Young,
Corps de Droit Ottoman, Volume VII, page 55 ff.). So far as I can judge from a
hurried glance I should say that in the case of Parts I and III the adaptation
had been done very freely, whereas Part II seems to follow the Ottoman Code
of Maritime Commerce more closely. I confess, however, that I have had no
time to study the Sa’udi text in detail.
5. I am sending a copy of this despatch to the Department of Overseas Trade.