6. MODERNIZATION OF THE EGYPTIAN LEGAL STRUCTURE FROM THE JUDICIAL REFORM TO THE MONTREUX AGREEMENT
The anarchy that prevailed in the legislative and judicial systems as a result of widespread foreign concessions and the attitude of European countries vis-à-vis this phenomenon, together with the elite's desire to lay down a well-balanced legal system which would be governed by the same principles as modern European laws, particularly French, gave rise to the need for judicial reform.
Thus, Nubar Pasha in his report to Khedive Ismail called for a reform of the judiciary and the creation of mixed courts side by side with the promulgation of new laws. Thus, the judicial system which governed foreigners served to introduce European legislations into Egypt. Before giving their consent for judicial reforms, the European countries set as a condition that these new courts draw their legislations from European laws. In January and February 1873 an international committee met in Istanbul to lay down a final draft for judicial reforms providing for the creation of Mixed Egyptian Courts, which obtained the approval of the countries concerned and of the Egyptian government between 1874 and 1875. On 18 June 1875 Khedive Ismail officially inaugurated the Mixed Courts, and in February 1876 they met in their first sitting.
The Egyptian government eventually entrusted Manoury, a French lawyer from Alexandria, with the task of drafting a body of law on the European model. He set out to borrow from French legislations while introducing partial modifications based on Islamic law and on certain provisions of the Egyptian law. As a result, there emerged a body of mixed rules, such as laws governing commerce, maritime trade, civil, commercial and criminal proceedings, as well as penal codes.
On 14 June 1883 a decree was passed providing for the creation of national courts. A technical committee was set up to draft new national laws which were an exact reformulation of previous laws, with only slight modifications which by no means altered the substance of the legal rules they contained. On 18 October and 13 November 1883, the new national laws were promulgated in French, but were later translated into Arabic.
The process of borrowing from French models constituted an innovation in the Egyptian legal system. In the light of the changes which occurred in Egyptian society, the Criminal and Penal Codes were amended in 1904 so as to fall in line with modern criminal systems. Consequently, Egypt became imbued with modern French legal culture, with the scope of application of Islamic law becoming confined to personal status. This situation caused drastic changes in the structure of Egyptian law.
Thus, positive legislations drawn from French laws stood at the top of the general legal edifice, while those drawn from the Shari'a concerning personal status and those governing non-Moslems assumed narrower proportions in this structure. Furthermore, customary law dwindled by reason of repeated state intervention in the field of legislation.