Page 146 - UAE Truncal States

Administering a Tribal Society

area which was usually much safer to travel in than the rest of the
open country of the Trucial Stales. Some 15 men were permanently
stationed at Muqta' ford between Abu Dhabi island and the
mainland.
From among the large number of retainers the Ruler also selected
people to work as guards at oil company sites and the company paid
for them direct to the Ruler. Any one of his personal retinue could be
entrusted with special tasks such as accompanying the judge on his
round of Dhafrah, collecting the lax, bringing a camel thief to the
Ruler, or guiding a parly of oil company employees to distant parts of
the shaikhdom.
When the oil company wanted to employ local labour, the Ruler or
one of his representatives selected initially from among his retainers,
and then from among the tribes in general, the men whose turn it was
to get the jobs; and he collected their wages on their behalf. This
practice became in the late 1950s and early 1960s one of the most
important manifestations of the Ruler’s administrative authority
over the people who lived within the area which by then had been
defined as being the PD(TC) oil concession area.

Jurisdiction
In the European context the individual is subject to the authority of
the Slate as the sole source of legislation and jurisdiction in the land,
and this exercise of authority is one of the most significant
manifestations of a sovereign’s rule.
But in most parts of the Trucial Shaikhdoms the families, tribal
groups and communities were accustomed to dealing themselves
with most disputes among their members without reference to the
Ruler. Only if they could not agree among themselves would one or
another of the parties involved bring the case to the Ruler. This
makes the administration of justice largely an act which is requested
rather than enforced. Prosecution for the sake of seeing the law
enforced, that is, without some plaintiff actually seeking justice, is
rare in this system. Disputes concerning property being stolen
(animals, rifles, and the like), being damaged (water-courses, gar­
dens), being eaten by someone’s domestic animal (date trees,
plantations), or being infringed upon (aflaj, ham mam. buildings),
were usually dealt with by the family heads or the tribal leaders
concerned, or by consulting an *arlf, someone well versed in the
customary law of that community. If two parties in a dispute came to

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