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Coll 6/35 'Hejaz-Nejd. Ownership of property by foreigners.' [‎10r] (19/259)

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The record is made up of 1 file (128 folios). It was created in 23 May 1930-17 Jun 1935. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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>S(,
i
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
WITH reference to my despatch No. 26 of the 29th January, I have the
honour to state that on the 6th February I discussed at some length with Fuad
Bey Hamza the effect of the Saudi regulations on real property promulgated last
October, and of the interpretative communique of the 18th January. As this
discussion was of a general nature, exploratory on my part and explanatory on
the part of Fuad Bey, I do not think it necessary to record it in detail. The
principal thing that emerged from it was that Fuad Bey, who had nothing to do
with the promulgation of the regulations, is greatly embarrassed and lias been
trying to make the best of a bad job. His conversations with the foreign repre
sentatives, several of whom have shown interest in the subject, may encourage
him to make a further effort to undo the mischief wrought by Sheikh Yusuf Yasin
and others in his absence.
2. Another fact of some importance which emerged from my conversation
with Fuad Bey is that the Saudi Government have made the mess, into which
they have got themselves by their ill-considered legislation, still messier by trying
to import into it conceptions and one or two terms derived from the former
Ottoman legislation on one particular kind of property, viz., Government or
“ Miri ” land. This was, as you are aware, the subject of elaborate Turkish
legislation (see Young’s Corps de Droit ottoman, Vol. VI, p. 45 ff.), which
defined the quasi-proprietorial rights of private occupants of land, the funda
mental ownership of which was vested in the State. It dealt, inter alia, with the
nature of the titles, which occupants could acquire. I do not know whether that
legislation was ever applied in the Hejaz, but there is certainly no machinery
now in existence in this country which could give effect to its principles, even
if the position as regards the legal character of all titles were not, as Fuad Bey
confessed to me, hopelessly confused.
3. I have embodied a short general account of my conversation with Fuad
Bey in paragraph 7 of the enclosed memorandum, which I have thought it
advisable to circulate to the posts indicated in it, in view of the repercussions
of this question in various directions.
4. As the enclosed memorandum brings the whole situation up to date, and
as the special question of Hashimite properties is now the subject of separate
telegraphic correspondence, I am not sending copies of this covering despatch
to anv other British authority.
THE Saudi regulations on real property, which were mentioned in para
graph 241 of the Jedda report for October and have been referred to in later
reports, have proved to be of wider interest than was anticipated. I am therefore
circulating this general account of the matter for the benefit of the above posts,
although some of them are already fully or partly aware of the facts.
2. The regulations in question were published in two instalments in the
Umm-al-Qura of the 19th and 26th October last. They reasserted the principle
that no foreigner may acquire real property in the Hejaz, subject to a relaxation
already admitted by regulations promulgated in 1931 and reincorporated with
EASTERN (Arabia).
March 4, 1935.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 7.
[E 1461/403/25]
No. 1.
Sir A . Ryan to Sir John Simon. — (Received March 4.)
(No. 40.)
Sir,
Jedda, February 12, 1935.
I have, &c.
ANDREW RYAN.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Memorandum by Sir Andrew Ryan on Foreign Ownership of Real Property
m the Hejaz.
[356 d—7]

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Content

This file relates to the ownership of property in the Hejaz (later Saudi Arabia) by foreigners. The early correspondence in the file (1930-1931) relates to the estates of deceased British Indian citizens (and one Chinese national). The remainder of the file's correspondence is chiefly concerned with the status of private properties in the Hejaz belonging to the Hashimite family. Much of this correspondence documents the progress of negotiations for the aforementioned properties to be restored to the Hashimite family; further correspondence speculates on the possible impact on Hashimite properties of Saudi regulations introduced in October 1934 (a translated copy of which is included in the file, at folios 39-44) which, it is reported, state that foreigners may not own immovable property in the country.

The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir John Simon); the High Commissioner for Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan (Arthur Grenfell Wauchope); the British Resident, Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan (Charles Henry Fortnom Cox); His Majesty's Ambassador in Baghdad (Sir Francis Henry Humphrys); His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires to Jedda (Cecil Gervase Hope Gill); the British Consul General, Kashgar (Frederick Williamson); the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India; Nuri Al Sa'id [Nūrī al-Sa‘īd], former Iraqi Prime Minister; officials of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department, and the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. 's Political Department.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (128 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 129; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-128; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Coll 6/35 'Hejaz-Nejd. Ownership of property by foreigners.' [‎10r] (19/259), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2101, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100061642093.0x000016> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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