e introduced. Save on
points of law, the right of appeal in criminal cases was abolished, and
assize courts, whose judgments were final, established. At the same time
the penal code was thoroughly revised, so that the Egyptian judges were
"for the first time provided with a sound working code" (Ibid. p. 49).
The native courts have both native and foreign judges. There are courts
of summary jurisdiction presided over by one judge, central tribunals
(or courts of first instance) with three judges, and a court of appeal
at Cairo. A committee of judicial surveillance watches the working of
the courts of first instance and the summary courts, and endeavours, by
letters and discussions, to maintain purity and sound law. There is a
_procureur-general_, who, with other duties, is entrusted with criminal
prosecutions. His representatives are attached to each tribunal, and
form the _parquet_ under whose orders the police act in bringing
criminals to justice. In the _markak_ (district) tribunals, created in
1904 and presided over by magistrates with jurisdiction in cases of
misdemeanour, the prosecution is, however, conducted directly by the
police. Special Children's Courts have been established for the trial of
juvenile offenders.

The police service, which has been subject to frequent modification, was
in 1895 put under the orders of the ministry of the interior, to which a
British adviser and British inspectors are attached. The provincial
police is under the direction of the local authorities, the _mudirs_ or
governors of provinces, and the _mamurs_ or district officials; to the
_omdas_, or village head-men, who are responsible for the good order of
the villages, a limited criminal jurisdiction has been entrusted.

_Religion._--The great majority of the inhabitants are Mahommedans. In
1907 the Moslems numbered over ten millions, or 91.8% of the entire
population. The Christians in the same year numbered 880,000, or 8% of
the population. Of these the Coptic Orthodox church had some 667,000
adherents. Among other churches represented were the Greek Orthodox, the
Armenian, Syrian and Maronite, the Roman Catholic and various Protestant
bodies. The last-named numbered 37,000 (including 24,000 Copts). There
were in 1907 over 38,000 Jews in Egypt.

The Mahommedans are Sunnites, professing the creed commonly termed
"orthodox," and are principally of the persuasion of the _Shafi'is_,
whose celebrated founder, the imam ash-Shafi'i, i