Any person who exercises the right to judge without authority from the sultan shall be fined one male slave.
All governors and their subjects ought to abide by and aid in carrying out all the articles of this code. Any person who does not fulfill this duty will have all the curses and the calamities of this world and the world to come that befall the man who swears falsely by the thirty parts of the Quran.
The New Sulu Code
The new code is a rearrangement of the old code with some changes and modifications. Its author is Hajji Būtu Abdu-l-Bāqi, the present prime minister or adviser of the Sultan Jamālu-l-Kirām the Second. It was issued in the latter part of 1902, but there has been so much objection to it on the part of many datus and chiefs that its general adoption seems impossible.
For a Sulu Hajji Būtu is a man of talent and understanding. He knows some Arabic and is probably the best Sulu scholar in the Archipelago.
This code greatly increases the fines exacted from the people, creates a treasury under the control of Hajji Būtu, and entitles the sultan to a share of the fines collected by the various datus and chiefs. The chiefs and the people look upon it as another form of unjust taxation. The opposition to its adoption is so strong and so bitter that nothing except force of arms can enforce its use. This is beyond the power of the present sultan.
Introduction
This book is a guide to the proper execution of the duties of office in accordance with the law and the rules of the country. It is concurred in by all and is promulgated with the general consent of all datus, ministers, panglima, and subordinate officers of state.
May God enhance by it the good and prosperity of our country.
This at 9 o’clock, Saturday, the 11th of the month Jul Kaidat of the year B, which corresponds to the year 1320 A. H.