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Kazis
Aden had two kazis, one for Aden itself and the other
for the Settlement of Sheikh Othman. In 1905 it was
realised that there was somewhat of a grey area as
regards their function and status and it was suspected
that they might have been lining their pockets by taking
‘comfortable fees’ for settling all matters referred to
them. Officials were tasked with finding more about the
function and status of these two kazis and any
precedents on file.
A straightforward job description was found from 1893:
The kazis were Judicial Officers appointed by and under
the orders of the 1st Assistant Resident.
Their functions were to perform marriage and divorce
ceremonies and settle the religious affairs of their
communities. They also assisted the Court of the
Resident in granting or writing certain papers regarding
inheritance.
It was in this settling of the estates of the deceased
that the powers of a kazi had been considerably reduced
since the days of Captain Haines when individuals had
the choice of either going to the official Court or to
the kazi. Later there were two limitations: only if all
heirs were of age (over 15) and only if estates were of
‘trifling value’ could they be settled by a kazi. The
definition of trifling value was property worth not more
than 99 Rupees and possessions totalling less than 200
Rupees.
In 1905 the worry was that the (financial) activities of
the kazi of Sheikh Othman in particular were totally
unsupervised and unaudited. It was suggested that in
future he should submit a monthly summary of any estates
he had settled. In 1905 certificates of sale of 55
houses in Sheikh Othman (five being ‘pucca’ and 50 ‘kutcha’)
had been issued and none of these, not even the five
proper houses, had a value of more than 99 Rupees. The
official scale of charges for a kazi to issue a
certificate was 8 Annas for properties with a value of
at least 20 Rupees, there being no charge under that. A
Certificate of Sale became in effect the deeds of the
‘property’ and to complete the formalities certificates
were submitted by the kazi (in Sheikh Othman to the
Superintendent) as the grant of a certificate of
heirship could only be given by the Resident or by the
person to whom this power had been delegated.
The kazis were paid a salary by Government; that for the
Kazi of Aden was 50 Rupees a month, whilst the Kazi of
Sheikh Othman received 40. In 1854 the monthly salary of
the Khazi of Aden had been 30 Rupees. There were also
fixed fees for conducting marriages and divorces: one
Rupee for a marriage in a kazi’s office and five Rupees
for one conducted at a private residence. The fee for a
divorce was two Rupees. |
