Page 105 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (II)_Neat

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The Small Court was given authority to deal with 1 fasl ’ and ‘ Arba ’ diving
claims, but not other diving cases.

Shcrn Courts. The work of both Sunni and Shia Shera Courts has been
unsatisfactory during the year.

Tho Shia Qadis owing to dissentions among themselves have rarely given
unanimous verdicts in important cases. Most of their judgments have been
obviously swayed by personal prejudices. In certain estate cases they have
admittedly received largo sums of money to which, according to public opinion, they
are not entitled. Their prestige and reputation is are lower even than that of any
previous Qadis.

The Sunni Qadis have a better reputation but are arousing general complaint
by their apparent incapability of dispatching cases with reasonable rapidity. Simple
cases are held up by them for months and in important cases they take years to
come to a decision.

The standard of education and legal knowledge of the Ulema of Bahrain,
both Sunni and Shia, from whom the Qadis are appointed, is extremely low. Very
few young men from Bahrain go abroad to study Islamic law, they are content to
learn from the local ‘Alims’ and the result is a case of the blind leading the blind.
Code of Law8. Scarcely any progress was made during the year by the
committee which was appointed to draw up a draft code of laws for the Bahrain
Courts. Members of the committee were away from Bahrain and the court clerk
was on leave. Both magistrates and the public are anxious that some sort of code
should be produced especially in order to check the anomalies which occur in
judgments in different Bahrain Courts and the differences between Agency court
judgments and Bahrain Court judgments.
New Law Court®. All the courts now have their rooms and offices in the new
building which is a great convenience both to the public and to the magistrates and
officials. Cases can be passed from court to court with no delay and it is possible for
Wakils to appear in more than one court on the same day which was previously,
very difficult. The new courts provide accommodation for litigants who are waiting
to be heard and the court rooms are more comfortable and better ventilated than the
various rooms which were used before.
Although the progress of judicial administration in Bahrain is apparently
running smoothly there is a definite tendency to criticise the courts on the part of
the modern type of educated Arabs who are now the people who are most anxious
to make or to adopt a regular code. One of the most frequent criticisms of
judicial administration is that with few exceptions all the magistrates are quite young
men with no great experience. The magistrates are mostly the sons and nephews
of the Ruler. Unfortunately the older members of the Ruling Family, though
perhaps more experienced in a general way, are for the most part unqualified for
such duties.

Municipalities.

Manama Municipality.

Annual Revenue 1356 Rs. 92,130.
Expenditure 9G,624.
Balance in hand 30,338.