'File 11/2 Diaries and Report: Arabia Series' [‎16r] (31/222)

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by the Secretary of State for India to say that he suggests that it prefer
able to inform the Sultan “ that the contents of his letter are noted _ rather than
Samuel HoarfagreeTldh t" posalof the Secretary of State ^h^lomesto
approve the course of action suggested in paragraph 13 of the despaten trom
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 Udl mentioned a Sa’udi Commercial Code, the serial publication of w ic i
had bee P n competed during that period. On my return to Jedda at the end of
Mav 1 found awaiting me a portly volume containing a rough manuscript transla
tion of this enormous document, which took up much space ,n successive numbers of
the'umm-abQura newspaper from August 7th, 1931 to February 26th 1932 inclusive.
The vicissitudes of the 1 remainder of the year made it impossible for me to give
Mention 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 won e
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
Tf the type known as Majlis at-Tujar or Council of Merchants. Only one such
court exists at present. It has its being m Je f a , b ?* i Ciw
diction in commercial cases is supposed to extend to Mecca, bo tar as 1
it is a very inept body but one seldom hears it mentioned at all, never, in my
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 dealin" 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 o
exchange and fnsolvency. Part II (Articles 150 to 431) deals with maritime
commerce and comprises, among others, chapters on the ownership of ships, seamen,
bilH of lading freight and charter-party, passages, hypothecation of ships etc.,
bills OI lading, 1 T r T / A r j-i r le S 432 to 533) is devoted to the
marine insurance and average. Part 111 (Articles , 534 to 622)
organisation and procedure of ^ ^fmakes th^ cod“i
operative^rom'the date of publication, presumably the date of the last instalment,
as the code fe 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 " tended only to apply to the Hejaz, which at the time had not yet
been merged in a unifiedHa’udi Arablji- ... ,
4 I learn from Fuad Bey Hamza, who was probably the principal author
of the code “hat it was based mainly on the old Ottoman codes (see Young,
Coisde Droit Ottoman, Volume VII page 55 ff.) So ar as can jud^e from a
had been' done w/y ffieely whfreS PartTl seenuTto 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.