The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-24 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 24, 1857.

THE NEW ENGLISH JURISDICTION IN

TURKEY.

The following letter has been received from Con-
stantinople, Dec. 10 :
" The newly-established Consular Court began
its functions last month, but I have not hitherto
had time, nor have you had space, to allude to it.
Mr. Hornby, the Consular Judge, had given notice
to the more considerable merchants that he would
deliver a charge at the first opening of his Court,
and a good number of thorn collected in the court-
room fitted up for the new tribunal in the building
temporarily occupied by the Consulate until the
new Consulate in Galata is finished.

" The judge then began by apprising those pre-
sent that her Majesty had been graciously pleased
by her Order in Council of the 27th of August last
to increase the jurisdiction of the Consular Court
at Constantinople, to alter in some respects the
manner of proceeding in civil and criminal process,
and to modify the relations of the different Con-
sular officers in the Levant, as far as regards their
magisterial and judicial functions with the Con-
sulate-General of Constantinople.
"In these three points the changes which the
Order in Council makes with respect to the Con-
sular jurisdiction in the Levant are all comprised.
" Before explaining these changes in detail Mr.
Hornby pointed out that they were made in order
to secure upon some safe and satisfactory basis the
civil and criminal jurisdiction in the Levant, and
that therefore it was expected that the British mer-
cantile community in the Levant would give its
hearty co-operation to carry them out effectually..
" After alluding to the work of the Commission
which was charged in 1856 to inquire into the state
of the Consulate-General, Mr. Hornby entered into
a detailed explanation of the character of the new
Supreme Consular Court, and indicated, as far as it
is possible now, the course which will be taken for
the future with reference to the administrationlof
justice in this and the other Consular Courts of the
Levant.

"The first point is the separation of the judicial
from the Consular functions. This separation has
at this moment only reference to the Consulate-
General of Constantinople, for which place the
judge of the Supreme Consular Court is specially
appointed. As for the other Consulates in the Le-
vant, it affects them only in so far as it transfers
the appeal from their decisions to the judge, in-
stead of to the ambassador at Constantinople. But
a certain liberty has been left to the judge in cases
of felony occurring in outlying.districts, when it
will be his duty to provide for their careful investi-
gation and for the effectual punishment of the cri-
minal.

" Thus the first and most necessary step is done,
viz., to unite the whole civil and criminal jurisdic-
tion of all the Consulates in the Levant. Hitherto
each Consular jurisdiction was more or less an inde-
pendent power, from which, indeed, there was a
nominal appeal to the Embassy,. burr this latter,
overwhelmed with political business, could only in-
effectually attend to the appeals which came under
its notice. On the other hand, a great many cases,
especially the claims against the Turkish Govern-
ment, were brought from the first instance under
the notice of the Embassy, without any reference
to the Consul to whose jurisdiction they would have
properly belonged. The consequence was a hope-
less confusion, and a waste of that energy which
ought to have been concentrated on questions of
importance. The dragomans of the Embassy had
continually to run about to the Turkish police, and
other subordinate courts, wasting their time in in-
significant squabbles, which were rather calculated
to detract from that authority which they ought to
have been anxious to preserve.
"As the order in Council says that its disposi-
tions are not to be considered final, and that
improvements will be introduced accordingly as
they will be required, it may be hoped that this
separation between the judicial and other func-
tions of the Consuls will be still further ex-
tended. If in the capital the union which existed
hitherto has only produced delay and confusion,
in the provinces it has produced other evils like-
wise. I don't think I am wrong in saying that
there ig not alingle Consul in the Levant who has
had a judicial education ; the Consular Court in the
provinces is therefore a kind of patriarchal j urisdic-
tion, in which the Consul rules as despot. This
presses specially on the poorer part of the commu-
nity, who have not the means of appealing from
arbitrary decisions. With almost all other greater
nations it is a rule not to appoint anybody who has
not bad at least the rudiments of a legal education,
and in all larger places a legal adviser is invariably
attached to the Consul as his chcsncellier. This
might be imitated with advantage in the British
Consulates of the Levant. In the meantime it
would not be impossible, perhaps, that either the
judge
from
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" With the establishment of a separate Consular
ianc se places
rtaot isounpe orfi jnutsetni cdo ainnd ithnesvea os tui flaytien
Court the functions anti the power of the Consular
jurisdiction have been considerably augmented.
Until now the power of the Consulate-General ex-
tended only to a fine of 100 doll. and imprison-
ment for one year. The Judge of the Supreme
Consular Court has the power to fine to the amount
of 5001., and may sentence criminals to transporta-
tion for life or for any lesser period, or to penal
servitude, deportation, and imprisonment, with or
without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two
years. The only crimes that do not come under
his jurisdiction are those of a capital nature. In
such cases, having taken the depositions in writing
and on oath of the witnesses, and having bound
over such witnesses, being British subjects, to ap-
pear when and wherever they shall be called upon
to do so, he has to send the accused to England or
Malta, or, if an lonian, to Corfu.
It is rather to be regretted that,suoh au exception
should have been made, for it gives a chance to the
worst species of criminals to escape. Witnesses
who are British subjects may be bound over to ap-
pear in England or any other place where the
offence is to be tried ; but if they are, they cannot
be forced, and their evidence must be sent in writ-
ing, which in English courts is of much less, or no
value. Besides this, if it be an lonian or Maltese
who has committed the crime, it will be rather dif-
ficult to find a jury in either place to convict him of
a capital offence. Finally, the impression whi.h
punishment produces is entirely lost by sending the
criminal away, and no native will ever be convinced
that this is not done expressly to withdraw him
from punishment. With the regular proceeding
which will be now introduced, and with the estab-
lishment of a jury of six respectable British sub-
jects for all cases of felony, there is every possi-
bility of trying fairly the case according to the
forms and maxims of British law, on oral instead
of written evidence, and surrendering the criminal
to the Turkish authorities for execution.
" Mr. Hornby drew the attention of his audience
to the right conferred on the British community to
have cases of felony tried by a jury. This institu-
tion was rather liable to be misunderstood ; hither-
to the experience of the merchants was confined to
namedb syhotiule ld
mixed cases iu civil matters, where it is a rule that
the question decided b y
two
one
be
claimant and
de-
fendant. As all kinds of subterfuge and chicane
were employed to defeat the ends of justice in
these cases, the honour of being an arbiter was
studiously avoided as involving a great deal of
trouble, and it was to be apprehended that the duty
of jurymen would be viewed in the same light. Mr.
Hornby tried to impress on his hearers that they
had to consider this, not as a burden, but as a right,
lof which every Englishman ought to be proud.
"Another subject which Mr. Hornby touched
upon, and which is of great importance, is the sys-
tem of procedure in civil cases, which has been
hitherto very imperfect and lengthy. According to
the order in Council the judge has a right to estab-
lish from time to time rules of practice, and these
rules have to be as much as possible in conformity
with those of the County Courts in England. No-
thing better could have been devised to put an end
to the lengthy forms which were used hitherto,
involving a great deal of time, opening the door to
every kind of chicane, and feeding a number of
petty lawyers, who got up cases of a most desuls
tory nature.
"A summary, and, as far as possible, verbal pro-
cedure, will put an end to all this, and the right
now ve•ted in the judge to award costs gives him the
power to deter people from making a profit by
litigation.
"Mr. Hornby explained his ideas on the way in
which evidence will be taken in the Supreme Con-
sular Court. Hitherto the procedure was so loose
that most cases had to be judged on hearsay, or
second-hand evidence, and it was quite entertain-
ing to hear the vaguest report brought forward as
evidence. For instance, a man had heard from
another man that he had seen or heard the fact in
question. If the court asked to see the man who
had seen or heard, he was either not to be found
or had heard the fact related by a third person,
who never was found. Now no secondary evidence
I will be admitted so long as original evidence can

be procured ; as for second-hand evidence, it will
be altogether rejected.
" In civil cases, the Consular Court at Constan-
tinople will be final in all cases of appeal from the
outlying consuls, but in cases where the judge has
decided' a case sitting as a judge of first instance
an appeal will lie to the Privy Council in England,
provided that the subject-matter iu dispute in-
volves a larger amount than 1,0001.
"Mr. Hornby gave some excellent advice to his
hearers about the mixed cases in which foreigners
are concerned. He alluded to the failure of these
mixed commissions in practice, however plausible
they might sound in theory, and be said that he
was rather inclined to attribute this failure to the
mistaken notion on the part of many individuals
who served in such commissions that they have to
act the part rather of advocates for their respec-
tive countrymen than of judicial arbitrators,
showing neither favour nor partiality. He ex-
pressed his hope that an arrangement will soon be
come to between the different Governments which
will put an end to these commissions ; but in
the meantime he assured them of the anxious desire
of her Majesty's Government to protrect the per-
formance of any judicial function exercised in the
British name from even a suspicion of undue bias,
and henceforth the legal vice-consul, or the other
legal officer of the court, will always be a member
of such a mixed commission. Rules of procedure
will be framed, besides, which shall insure a prompt
decision. Mr. Hornby views in the same spirit
the proceedings with tits Turkish tribunals. In
all cases of sufficient importance an officer of the
court will go together with the dragoman.
"If Mr. Hornby, as I hope, will do away with
the abuses which have hitherto prevailed in this
respect, he will confer a great benefit not only on
the Turkish Gavel nmen t,but likewise on the British
community. There are many complaints against
the; chicanery of the Turkish tribunals, calculated
to elude justice, but the fault is just as great on the
other side. The most unreasonable demands are
constantly made, and turned often into a source of
annoyance to the Government itself. Experiencing
continually a spirit of unfairness from the Euro-
peans, it seems not unnatural that they should have
recourse to cunning, the only expedient which re•
mains to them against the pressure ; but let them
once see that they are dealt with fairly, and there
is no doubt that they will heartily co-operate.
"As regards casts of bankruptcy, the power of
the nowronsular Court is exactly the same as that
of a Commissioner of Bankruptcy in England. An
officer of the court wilt act in the capacity of an
official assignee to assist the trade assignees in get-
ting in the property of the bankrupt, and in all
cases of fraudulent bankruptcy prompt and decisive
punishment will follom
" There is certainly no country in Earope in
which cases of fraudulent bankruptcy are so fre-
quent as here. Indeed, it is not uncommon to
hear the fortune of a man estimated by the
number of bankruptcies he has made, and there
was so little chance of punishing the defaulter that
in almost all cases the creditors preferred to make
whatever arrangement they could with the debtor,
rather than to declare lain a bankrupt. Such
arrangements are made every day, and it is high
time, at any rate as far as British subjects are con-
cerned, that something should be done.
" The judge has the right to introduce a system
of fees and stamps, which will be published and
hung up in the Consular Court.
" This was the tenor of Mr. Hornby's explana-
tion of the order in Council. As he contributed so
much during his former stay here to draw the atten-
tion of the British Government to this subject, and
as the order in Council is mainly based on his sug-
gestions, it may be confidently expected that he
will be able to carry it out effectually. There will
be, no doubt, numberless obstacles which have been
heaped up by years of habit and routine, but they
will not resist firmness. Even with the best inten-
tions this has been impossible hitherto, because the
judicial authority was too much subdivided ; no
limit was drawn between the different jurisdictions,
and no central power existed to control them all
and subject them to a common rule. To establish
this is the mission of the new Supreme Consular
Court. To fulfil it will not a little_contribute to
raise the British name and British institutions in
the eyes of the natives, who are perhaps the more
impressed by justice and fairness the more seldom
they can obtain it themselves."

ought to be so in ours ; and it woulsi be so were it
not for the deep social ramifications of the dynasty
of generals' nephews.
"I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" A CIVILIAN.".