The Mixed Tribunals employ a code based on the _Code
Napoleon_ with such additions from Mahommedan law as are applicable.
There are three tribunals of first instance, and an appeal court at
Alexandria. These courts have both foreign and Egyptian judges--the
foreign judges forming the majority of the bench. In certain designated
matters they enjoy criminal jurisdiction, including, since 1900,
offences against the bankruptcy laws. Cases have to be conducted in
Arabic, French, Italian and English, English having been admitted as a
"judicial language" by khedivial decree of the 17th of April 1905.
Besides their judicial duties, the courts practically exercise
legislative functions, as no important law can be made applicable to
Europeans without the consent of the powers, and the powers are mainly
guided by the opinions of the judges of the Mixed Courts.

The judicial systems applicable solely to Egyptians are supervised by
the ministry of justice, to which has been attached since 1890 a British
judicial adviser. Two systems of laws are administered:--(1) the
_Mehkemehs_, (2) the Native Tribunals. The _mehkemehs_, or courts of the
cadis, judge in all matters of personal status, such as marriage,
inheritance and guardianship, and are guided in their decisions by the
code of laws founded on the Koran. The grand cadi, who must belong to
the sect of the _Hanifis_, sits at Cairo, and is aided by a council of
_Ulema_ or learned men. This council consists of the sheikh or religious
chief of each of the four orthodox sects, the sheikh of the mosque of
Azhar, who is of the sect of the _Shafi'is_, the chief (_nakib_) of the
_Sherifs_, or descendants of Mahomet, and others. The cadis are chosen
from among the students at the Azhar university. (In the same manner, in
matters of personal law, Copts and other non-Moslem Egyptians are, in
general, subject to the jurisdiction of their own religious chiefs.)

For other than the purposes indicated, the native judicial system, both
civil and criminal, was superseded in 1884 by tribunals administering a
jurisprudence modelled on that of the French code. It is, in the words
of Lord Cromer, "in many respects ill adapted to meet the special needs
of the country" (_Egypt_, No. 1, 1904, p. 33). The system was, on the
advice of an Anglo-Indian official (Sir John Scott), modified and
simplified in 1891, but its essential character remained unaltered. In
1904, however, more important modifications wer