Page 348 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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and there were incessant complaints to the Government about the conduct of the Qadis. Shaikh
Ali bin Jafar was dismissed for irregular practices and another Qadi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali, was
appointed and the Government obtained from Iraq a well-known Shia judge, Shaikh Abdul Hussain-
al-Hilli, who was appointed as the Senior Shia Qadi to whom appeals could be made from the decisions
of the Shia court. From the day of his appointment the dissensions among the Shias ceased abruptly
and there has been no recurrence of them up to the present time. After the coming of Shaikh Abdul
Hussain the Government instituted various reforms and took from the hands of the Qadis their ill-
used authority of appointing village Alims to perform marriage and divorce ceremonies. Shaikh
Ali bin Hassan resigned his post in the following year and was granted a pension until he died ; though
truculent in his demeanour towards his brother Qadis he had always been a staunch supporter of the
Government. In 1365 (1946) a third Qadi, who had been educated in the Government Religious
School, presided over by Shaikh Abdul Hussain, joined the court.

Bahrain Courts.—In 1363 a number of important changes were made in the Bahrain Court.
Mr. Salim al Arayed, who had previous experience in the Bombay High Court was moved from the
Education Department and appointed Superintendent of the Judicial Department. Various transfers
were made in the staff of the courts and new methods of registration and filing of cases were introduced.
The cases for the last 20 years were sorted and rearranged and mariy of them were discarded. It
was found that different'methods were needed in order to cope with the large number of pending
cases, which numbered many hundreds. The two magistrates on the Bahrain Court sat together on
four days of the week and on one day with the Adviser. It was decided that they should sit separately
on four days each week each hearing cases in different courts and by this arrangement the disposal of
cases was speeded up. The system of allotting new and old cases to the two courts was automatic
so neither the parties nor the magistrates knew, until summons were issued, in which court a case
would be heard. This had much to commend it. Among other changes which were made was, the
appointment of young junior clerks to the posts of court clerks whose duties were restricted to re­
cording in writing the proceedings of the courts. One of the criticisms directed against the courts
in the past was that the court clerks had too much influence. Shaikh Rashid bin Mohammed, the
third magistrate, retired shortly before these reforms were carried out.

The results of the changes in court procedure became apparent during 1364 (1945)* The
Bahrain Court gave final judgments in 1,051 cases during the year which included about 80% of the
old cases which had been pending for a long time and at the end of 1364 only 159 untried cases remain­
ed. The division of what had been one court into two courts proved satisfactory.

In 1365 the Bahrain Court dealt with 811 cases consisting of 202 civil suits, 262 land cases and
347 criminal cases which included prosecutions under the price control regulations, motoring offences
and minor criminal charges. There were no serious crimes during the year. At the end of 1365
there were 261 cases before the court, there was an increase over the previous year of 185 new cases
of all kinds. In the same year the Bahrain Junior Court disposed of 798 cases out of 1,100 cases,
here also there was more litigation than in 1364. Out of 369 old cases, left over from 1364.’
330 were settled.

During the year the Shara Courts gave judgments in 264 cases, the Majlis Tajara received 40
cases, but only dealt with 28 cases, the Shia Appeal Qadi gave judgment in 16 appeals and the Bahrain
Appeal Court decided 11 appeals out of the 19 cases which were referred to it. Revenue from the
courts amounted to Rs. 16,000 from court fees and Rs. 20,000 from fines. The following courts
existed at the end of 1365:—

Bahrain Court.
Shaikh Daij bin Hamed-al-Khalifah
„ Ali bin Ahmed-al-Khalifah
The Adviser to the Bahrain Government, once weekly.

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