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The Closing of the Mixed Courts of Egypt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2017

Jasper Y. Brinton
Jasper Y. Brinton*
Affiliation:
Legal Attaché, American Embassy, Cairo*
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Extract

The Mixed Courts of Egypt closed their doors on October 15th, 1949. At their inauguration in 1875, the Khedive Ismail had used these words: “This day, gentlemen, will mark the commencement of a new era of civilisation in the history of Egypt.“ This was a bold prophecy to make for an institution to whom the Powers had given only five years of life. The event, however, amply justified the Khedive's prediction, and proved once more the truth of the Egyptian proverb, “Only the provisional endures.” The institution survived every test. Twenty times its life was successively renewed for periods varying from two to five years. The well-known words of Sir Maurice Amos, spoken in 1925, when the Courts were rounding the half-century mark, might still challenge contradiction a quarter of a century later, as they reached the end of their life: “I have often taken occasion to remark that next to the Church, the Mixed Courts are the most successful institution in history.”

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , April 1950 , pp. 303 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1950

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References

1 “The Mixed Courts of Egypt,” this JOURNAL, Vol. 20 (October, 1926), p. 670;“Suits Against Foreign States,” ibid., Vol. 25 (January, 1931), p. 50; “Egypt: The Transition Period,” ibid., Vol. 34 (April, 1940), p. 208; “Jurisdiction Over Members of Allied Forces in Egypt," ibid., Vol. 38 (July, 1944), p. 375; “The Egyptian Mixed Courts and Foreign Armed Forces,” ibid., Vol. 40 (October, 1946), p. 737.

2 Many of the former foreign judges have been called to other posts. Judge Qvale(Norwegian), President of the Court of Appeals and already a member of the International Court of Arbitration, has become a member of the United Nations Commission for Eritrea. Judge Struycken (Dutch) is Director of the Political Section of the European Council. Judge Murray Graham(British) has been made Legal Counsellor to the British Embassy, Cairo, his senior British colleague, Judge Blake Eeed, having been awarded a knighthood, as was the case with several of his predecessors. His junior colleague, Judge Lemass, hasbeen appointed to the Mixed Court at Tangier. Judge Cockinopoulo (Greek) is LegalAdviser to the Ethiopian Government. Judge Henry (American) has been named visiting Professor of Law at the University of Louisiana, and his American colleague, Judge Ericsson, Legal Adviser to the American High Commissioner to Germany. Certain other of the European judges have resumed the positions, which they had officially still retained, on the Benches of their several countries.