Page 81 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

INTRODUCTION 19
The British Court for Muscat, established under the provisions of
the British foreign jurisdiction in the Gulf, exercises a very limited
type of jurisdiction which extends only to non-Muslim citizens of the
United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries. Appeals from
the Court for Muscat, which applies British enactments, lie to the
British Chief Court in Bahrain.1
The Sultan, Safid ibn Taimur, conducts his country's affairs through
a radio-telephone from his palace at Salala which is 600 miles south
of Muscat. He has constantly procrastinated over the introduction of
modern reforms in his anachronistic administration. However, recent
reports indicate that the Sultan, whose Sultanate is now on the verge
of becoming an oil exporting country, is seeking expert advice on
re-organising his administration and introducing some development
projects.2
Kuwait
During the years preceding her independence on 19 June 1961
Kuwait lacked an organised government. Describing the administra­
tive machinery in Kuwait in early 1959, Sir Rupert Hay, once the
British Political Resident in the Gulf, states:
The system of Government is patriarchal and the high offices of State are
held by members of the ruling family, each of whom conducts the affairs
of the department entrusted to him with the minimum of financial or any
other control by any central authority. In fact, each of these Shaikhs is a
law unto himself, and there is much in the administration which depends on
their relations with each other, their presence or absence from the State or
the willingness of the Ruler to control their activities . . .
The formation, at the time, of a Supreme Council for the State, com­
prising these Shaikhs, showed, according to the author, ‘signs of
leading to more coordination’ in the administration. In the field of
justice, Sir Rupert Hay says, the Ruler’s courts administered justice
‘on somewhat primitive lines and the principles of Muslim law’
were usually applied in both civil and criminal cases, although
1Sce the Muscat Orders in Council, 1955 to 1962, in Persian Gulf Gazette,
Suppl. Nos. 25-36, 1959-62; Europa Publications, op. cit., p. 516. It is noteworthy
that British jurisdiction in Muscat has been relinquished as of 1 January 1967.
This has been provided by the Muscat (Revoking) Order 1966 (S.I. No. 1598 of
1966), the Explanatory Note of which states: ‘This Order revokes the Muscat
Orders 1955 to 1962 which provided for the exercise of Her Majesty’s jurisdiction
in the territories of the Sultan of Muscat and Oman ...’ Consequently, jurisdiction
over persons subject to the Muscat Orders 1955 to 1962 has been transferred to the
Sultan’s Courts. See Persian Gulf Gazette, Suppl. No. 53, January 1967.
2 See The Times, 4 February 1964; The Economist Intelligence Unit, Quarterly
Economic Review, Annual Supplement on Middle East Oil and the Arabian Peninsula
(1966), pp. 62-3; MEES, No. 22, 31 March 1967, p. 3; Arab Report and Record,
No. 3, 23 February 1967.