Copy 1, Volume 2

The Englishwoman in Egypt: letters from Cairo, written during a residence there in 1842, 3, and 4, [and 1845-46], with E.W. Lane, Esq. ... / By his sister.

  • Poole, Sophia Lane, 1804-1891
Date:
1844-1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Englishwoman in Egypt: letters from Cairo, written during a residence there in 1842, 3, and 4, [and 1845-46], with E.W. Lane, Esq. ... / By his sister. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    238/248 (page 234)
    compose a committee for presiding over the general govern¬ ment of the country, and the commercial and agricultural affairs of the Pasha. Petitions, &c., addressed to the Pasha, or to his Deewan, relating to private interests or the affairs of the government, are generally submitted to their con¬ sideration and judgment, unless they more properly come under the cognizance of other councils hereafter to be men¬ tioned. 2. The Council of the Army. The province of this court is sufficiently shown by its name. 3. The Council of the Navy. 4. The Court of the Merchants. This court, the members of which are merchants of various countries and religions, was instituted in consequence of the laws of the Kur-an and the Sunneh being found not sufficiently explicit in some cases arising out of modern commercial transactions. The ‘ Kddee ’ (or chief judge) of Cairo presides in Egypt only a year, at the expiration of which term, a new Kadee having arrived from Constantinople, the former returns. He purchases his place privately of the government, which pays no particular regard to his qualifications; though he must be a man of some knowledge, an ’Osmanlee (that is, a Turk), and of the sect of the Hanafees. Few Kadees are very well acquainted with the Arabic language; nor is it necessary for them to have such knowledge. In Cairo, the Kadee has little or nothing to do but to confirm the sentence of his ‘ Naib’ (or deputy), who hears and decides the more ordinary cases, and whom he chooses from among the ’Ulama of Istambool, or the decision of the ‘ Muftee’ (or chief doctor of the law) of his own sect, who constantly re¬ sides in Cairo, and gives judgment in all cases of difficulty. But in general, the Nai'b is, at the best, but little conversant with the popular dialect of Egypt; therefore, in Cairo, where the chief proportion of the litigants at the tribunal of the