Political Agency, Bahrain: Court Records

IOR/R/15/3

Political Agency, Bahrain: Court Records

1924-1950

The Bahrain Court Records are records of cases heard by the Courts established under the Bahrain Order in Council. Unlike the Court records of Kuwait and Muscat, they have survived in great numbers and contain a wealth of social and economic data, as well as presenting a comprehensive picture of British judicial administration in the Gulf. Cases are arranged according to the Court in which they were heard and within those divisions according to the type of case: civil, execution, estate, insolvency, criminal and appeal. The files themselves contain the following types of documents:. (i) The file jacket, giving details of the parties to the suit, their nationality and place of residence, the claim or charge, the date the case sheet was opened, and a record of the proceedings subscribed by the Magistrate or Judge, with in some cases the Judgement. (ii) In criminal cases the charge, and in civil cases the plaint with fees stamped, unless the suit was admitted in paupery, that is if the property of the plaintiff was valued at less than Rs 100. These plaints were often written by local scribes in Arabic. (iii) The judge's notes, sometimes detached from the record of the proceedings. (iv) Records of evidence, subscribed by the witness. (v) Summonses, formally addressed to the Chief of Police or the Amirs of Manama or Muharraq, but in civil cases sometimes given to the plaintiff to arrange service. (vi) Bailable summonses and sureties. (vii) Petitions and objections. (viii) Notices for the compulsory sale of property. (ix) Documents put into Court. A large number of these are in Arabic and are in themselves an invaluable source for social and economic history. (x) Correspondence with local authorities, eg the Shari'a Courts, the Majlis al-Tijara, the Adviser to the Bahrain Government, the Tapu (Land Settlement Department), the Municipalities, the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), the Minors' Department and Arbitrators. (xi) 'Barwas', or certificates granted to divers permitting them to dive. (xii) 'Wakalas', or powers of attorney. (xiii) Judgements and decrees, certificates of decrees, attachment orders and warrants of committal. (xiv) Papers arising from Estate cases.

Further material relating to the Bahrain Courts may be found in the main body of Bahrain Agency files, particularly in the Vernacular Office files: IOR/R/15/2/1824-1980.

Public Record(s)

English

11,586 files

Unrestricted

The Resident and Political Agents in the Gulf exercised extra-territorial jurisdiction under Orders in Council made under the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts of 1890-1913, but Bahrain is the only Agency from which Court records have survived in significant numbers. It was not until 1913 that an Order was made establishing British Courts in Bahrain Order, and because of the First World War this was not actually brought into effect until 2 February 1919, after which it remained in force until 1949 when it was replaced by a new Order primarily necessitated by the ending of British government in India. The British Agent had long exercised jurisdiction over British Indians in Bahrain and since 1904 had assumed jurisdiction over all non-Bahrain subjects. He also held a joint Court with the Ruler or his representative to hear cases in which the accused was a Bahrain subject (or a foreigner who did not invoke British good offices), and the other party was not. In addition he controlled a local Majlis al'Urfi - the body of prominent inhabitants of Bahrain, both native and foreign, who were appointed jointly by the Ruler and the Political Agent to give their opinion in commercial disputes between British subjects and others. As early as 1907 it had been proposed to regularise this situation by publicly assuming jurisdiction over foreigners. After the introduction of the Order in 1919, there was some friction between the Ruler and the Political Agent over the operation of the Majlis al'Urfi, and the Salifa Court which examined diving and marine cases. The Political Agent suspended the sittings of the Majlis, which was not reconstituted until 1920. With Shaikh 'Isa's retirement in 1923 relations improved, and following the appointment of the British Adviser to the Bahrain Government in 1926, local courts were established which worked hand in hand with the British Courts. Four Courts, whose records are preserved in this collection, derived their authority from the Bahrain Order in Council: the Chief Court, the Political Agent's Court (the Political Agent sitting as District Magistrate), the Sessions Court (the Political Agent sitting as Sessions Judge), and the Joint Court (the Political Agent and the Ruler sitting together). Two subordinate Courts, the Assistant Political Agent's and the Indian Assistant's, depended from the Political Agent's Court for the greater part of the period during which the Order was in force, and the Joint Court proper, known as the Senior Joint Court, had a Junior Court subordinate to it. The Chief Court, which exercised functions beside those conferred on it by the Bahrain Order, consisted of the Political Resident at Bushire, and appeal lay to it from the Agency Courts. For a detailed description of the Courts and the Law, see Penelope Tuson, 'The records of the British Residency and Agencies in the Persian Gulf', pp 107-110.