On a certain occasion, a judge being very anxious to defeat the testimony of a clever witness, after various ingenious interrogatories, made the quaint inquiry, “who married Adam and Eve?” To which the witness unhesitatingly replied, not, as it may be supposed, “I don’t know,”—oh no, not so stupid as that—but, “I was not invited to the wedding.”
It was a maxim of the government and a profitable one to its employés, that in the administration of justice, a speedy infliction of punishment, even though unjust, was more desirable than a tedious course of litigation, as the fear and awe thus infused into the hearts of the people, rendered them submissive to the most irrational commands, and terrified the mass into a dread of infringing the laws, although some few might suffer unjustly.
This principle, though nominally abandoned by the government, is still maintained by the judiciary; therefore, no pleading by lawyers is allowed, and the sentence is passed with all possible dispatch, or deferred at pleasure, as circumstances may require.
The whole of Turkey is divided into two separate judicial districts, viz., Anadolou, and Roumely, or Asia and Europe, and there is a Kazi-ul-Asker, or chief justice, appointed to each district, who preside over their respective courts.
There, is, however, a supreme court called, Arz-Odassi, or court of appeals, where the Grand Vezir and the Grand Mufty conjointly preside, and there all cases, when appealed, are heard; but the sentences are seldom reversed, as they wish to preserve the decisions of the judiciary courts inviolable. When the injustice is too gross and palpable, a new Ilam or sentence is granted by this court, without any allusion to prior proceedings.
It is true that the people have the right to appeal to his majesty for redress, but as they are invariably referred to this court for reconsideration, justice is seldom rendered to the appellants.
Foreigners are not tried before these courts. If the litigation is between themselves, their cases are tried and settled by their legations; but if with the natives, they are referred to a special court of the ministry of commerce, called Medjlissy-Tidjaret, composed of various merchants both natives and foreigners, and presided over by the Minister of Commerce, or his deputy.
The code by which this body pretends to be governed, is the “Code de Commerce” of Napoleon. How equitably it is applied by them, may easily be perceived.
Imagine some twenty-five or thirty merchants, of different nations and tongues, assembled together in the character of jurors, who not only do not understand a word or syllable that is uttered in their hearing, but often do not even possess the means of communicating their ideas to each other.
The affair brought before them, being unintelligible to most of them, it is generally conducted by the government officials, or some of the members who are fortunate enough to know something of the language, and their decisions imparted to the passive members, who usually give their sanction, taking it for granted that all is right. The consequence is, that if one of the litigants is so happy as to secure the good will and patronage of an acting member, he is sure to come off successfully, no matter how bad his case.