Page 349 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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Bahrain Junior Court.
Shaikh Ali bin Khalifah bin Daij-al-Khalifah
„ Ahmed bin Hamcd-al-Khalifah
„ Hamed bin Ibrahim-al-Khalifah.

Registration of land ownership.
Shaikh Sulman bin Mohamed-al-Khalifah.
Bahrain Representative on Junior Joint Court.
Shaikh Mubarak bin Hamed-al-Khalifah.

President Majlis Tajara.
Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamed-al-Khalifah.

Shia Shera Court.
Shaikh Baqir-al-Osfoor
„ Mohamed Ali Humaidan
„ Mansoor bin Shaikh Mohamed bin Salman.

Sunni Shera Court.
Shaikh Abdul Latif bin Saad
„ Mohamed Saleh
„ A. Rahman-al-Mehza.

Shia Shara Appeal Qadi.
Shaikh Abdul Hussain-al-Hilli.

Bahrain Appeal Court.
Shaikh Abdulla bin Isa
The Adviser.
The annual cost of the Judicial Department in 1365 was approximately Rs. 1,14,500.

Law.—The Bahrain Courts do not work according to any strict code of law. The majority
of cases which are tried in the courts are civil cases of which a large proportion are disputes about
immovable property involving boundaries, water rights and the ownership of land. Cases such as
these are decided according to the proclamations which have been issued by the Ruler from time to
time during the last 20 years or according to the opinion of a committee which is appointed by the court
and by the two disputing parties. The committees are chosen from persons who are known to have
special knowledge of the subject in dispute and who are competent to give opinion as to local custom
and practice in such matters as the rights pertaining to fish traps or the complicated rules affecting
irrigation from natural springs. Very rarely in these cases do the litigants attempt to contest the
opinion of the committees.
Cases about marriage, divorce and inheritance are referred to the Shara Courts. Bankruptcy
cases, which have been infrequent during recent years, are dealt with on the lines of the Indian Civil
Code.

The criminal cases which are heard in the Bahrain Courts are comparatively few in number
and consist mostly of misdemeanours not serious crimes. Certain acts which are treated with leniency
elsewhere are regarded by the Bahrain Courts, which are the courts of a Moslem State, as