No. 650.
Mr. Beardsley to Mr. Fish.
Cairo, March 5, 1875. (Received April 7.)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your instruction No. 168, of the 2d ultimo, in relation to judicial reform in Egypt. You [Page 1336] state that it is probable that the Government of the United States will accept the offer of the Khedive to nominate two magistrates for the lower courts, pursuant to the conditions of the Franco Egyptian convention; but owing to the special qualifications referred to in my dispatch No, 248, of the 15th of December, these nominations may not be as prompt as I intimated would be desirable. You further remark that it is important that you should be more fully informed as to the respective functions of the two magistrates.
I have the honor to respond as follows: There are to be three courts or tribunals of first instance, one at Alexandria, one at Cairo, and one at Zagazig. Each tribunal will consist of seven judges, four foreigners and three natives. By the original regulations the foreign judges could be chosen from whatever nationalities the Khedive saw fit; by the Franco-Egyptian protocol each of the great powers is entitled by right to at least one judge in each of the lower courts, in addition to one judge in the court of appeal. The judge to be nominated by the United States will have a seat in one of the lower courts, either at Alexandria, Cairo, or Zagazig. His contract will be for five years, and his salary 30,000 francs a year, with an allowance equal to three months’ salary for expense of the journey from the United States. In case of illness rendering him unfit for service, one year’s salary will be paid to him and he will be honorably discharged. On the expiration of his term of service the same amount will be paid to him in lieu of a pension.
In connection with the new tribunals there will be an attorney-general to guard the legal interests of the Egyptian government. The attorney-general will be appointed by the Khedive, and will have a seat in all the tribunals. Subordinate to the attorney-general there will be twelve magistrates, (“substitutes,”) four in each tribunal, who will act as occasion may require, by and with the advice of the attorney-general, either in his presence or absence. Two of the magistrates or substitutes of the four in each court will be foreigners and two natives. The attorney-general with the twelve substitutes will constitute the “parquet.”
By the original regulations all the members of the parquet were to-be appointed by the Khedive, at his will. By the Franco-Egyptian protocol one member of the parquet must be chosen from each of the great powers. One of the magistrates to be nominated by the United States will have a seat in the parquet, either at Alexandria, Cairo, or Zagazig. His salary will be 25,000 francs, with the same conditions as mentioned above for the judge of the lower tribunal, except that his term of service will be at the pleasure of the Khedive; that is to say, he may be discharged at any time by the Egyptian government on payment to him of one year’s salary in advance. Thus two magistrates are to be nominated by the United States, one for the lower tribunals, with a salary of 30,000 francs a year, and one for the parquet, with a salary of 25,000 francs a year.
It is desirable that the names of the candidates with their ages and former legal service, may be communicated for the approval of the Egyptian government as soon as practicable; and I am desired to say, what I said in a former dispatch, that the magistrates must possess a perfect knowledge of the French or Italian languages, otherwise they will not be accepted. It will be well to insist upon this qualification to prevent the embarrassment which might arise in the event of a judge coming out with an imperfect knowledge of both French and Italian.
Hoping I have made the respective functions of the two magistrates clear,
I have, &c.,