[Law of the Vilayets.] ARTS. 24 & 25 TABLE. Tribunals. Election of Members. Deliberations. Execution of Judg. ments. 26. Tribunals. Judgments of the Nizamié. Language. 27. State Revenues. 28. Taxes. Finances. 29. Roads and Public Works. System of Corvées forbidden. 30. Testamentary Arrangements (Wills). Succession of Christians. 31 & 32 33 & 34 } } Civil, Financial, Judicial, and Police Affairs (Mutessarifs and Chapter IV.-Duties of the Mutessarifs and Kaïmakams. Mutessarifs, Representatives of the Valis in the Sandjaks. 35. Judicial and Police Affairs. 36. Civil, Financial, and Judicial Affairs. Kaïmakams, Representatives of Mutessarifs in the Cazas. 37 Chapter V.-Duties of the Councils and Tribunals. to Justice and Equity. Nizamiés, &c. Execution of above Instructions. 40 (Translation as laid before Parliament.) Chapter I.-Duties of the Valis. Administration of each Vilayet by a Governor-General. ART. I. The Empire is divided into provinces called Vilayets. The administration of each Vilayet is entrusted to a Vali or Governor-General. Equality of all Ottoman Subjects before the Law. ART. II. All Ottoman subjects, to whatever class they may belong, are, without exception, equal before the law. The secu rity of individual rights being the sole object of the establishment of States, the first and most pressing duty of the Valis is to assure and to guarantee the rights of all Ottoman subjects, both collectively. and individually, and to place them beyond the reach of arbitrary or vexatious action. Responsibility of Valis to the Government. ART. III. The Valis are left quite free in the exercise of their functions, but at the same time they are directly responsible to the Government for the execution of their orders. [Law of the Vilayets.] Execution of Reforms. Exercise of Functions. ART. IV. The duties of the Valis are, in accordance with present instructions, divided into two categories: 1. The execution of the reforms. 2. The exercise of their functions within the limits of their powers. Maintenance and Development of Reforms. ART. V. The duties incumbent on the Valis, as far as concerns the execution of the reforms, consist in putting into practice completely and altogether the measures decreed, in accordance with the Imperial Firman recently promulgated. Their powers, properly so-called, consist in watching over the maintenance and regular development of the reforms, when once they shall have been applied, as well as the general administration, in a sense corresponding with the interests of the State and of the pro vince. Chapter II.-Duties of the Valis. Execution of Reforms. ART. VI. The duties relating to the execution of the reforms comprise : Tribunals and Councils. (a.) The new system of election of members and of the constitution of the Tribunals and Councils. Police Agents, Tax Gatherers, &c. (b.) The system of classification and of election of police. agents, of the tax-gatherers, of bailiffs, of the personnel of the staff of the Councils and Tribunals, as well as of custodians. Prisons. (c.) The organization and administration of prisons. Landed Property. (d.) The improvement of the formalities relating to the drawing up and delivery of the titles of property, and the strict observance of the laws in the transfer of landed property. Military Service. (e.) The modification of the tax of exoneration from military service, and its levy on a system of proportional distribution. [Law of the Vilayets.] Forced Labour. (f.) The application in an equitable manner of the system of forced labour for the construction of roads and other works; Agriculture. (9.) The progress and development of agriculture; the superintendence of the proper employment, and of regularity in the accounts of the funds of the agricultural treasuries instituted with the above object; Taxes. (h.) The fixing of the assessment of the taxes, the designation of the sources of local contributions, and the adopting of means suited to secure their receipt. ART. VII. The most important point in the formation of the Councils and Tribunals, that essential part of the reforms, consists in the free exercise of the power of election granted to all classes of the population, and which is to be exercised free from all interference; therefore, it is the Valis' duty (a.) To see that the choice both of the electors sent by the villages and of the eligible persons named by them, shall be carried out without any influence being exerted by the Government functionaries, or by the notables of the country; (b.) To hand over at once to justice, for punishment in accordance with the law, every individual, whoever he may be, who shall have attempted to intimidate the electors from a feeling of personal animosity against one of the candidates, whether it be openly or secretly, with the object of preventing the election or of annulling the vote; (c.) To choose from the list of the members elected by the population to the extent of double the necessary number, according to the special instructions, those persons who most enjoy the public confidence. The Valis are to superintend in person the strict application of the system of election indicated above, and to cause the Mutessarifs and the Kaïmakams to conform equally thereto. ART. VIII. In the composition of the corps of police agents, [Law of the Vilayets.] and of tax-collectors, as well as in the choice of the personnel of the service and of custodians, it will be their duty to conform to the special instructions mentioned in the Article relating to the execution of the reforms. The powers of these agents form, in some sort, part of those of the Valis, as these last represent the Executive Power, while the agents in question are the intermediaries for carrying out its orders. Therefore the Valis are bound to see that these agents discharge the duties which are incumbent upon them within the limits of the special instructions. ART. IX. In the choice of police agents and others, individuals of bad conduct must be struck out with the greatest care, and only persons who are honourable and worthy of confidence must be taken, without restriction as to the class of population to which they may belong. It is the Valis' duty to prescribe formally to the proper persons to give the greatest attention that the choice of these agents be carried out exactly according to the above conditions. They will be responsible when (the persons so chosen having committed acts which are reprehensible and contrary to the special instructions) they have shown negligence in sending them before the Tribunals. Prisons. ART. X. The organization and administration of prisons have a double object. The first is to prevent persons who are undergoing examination being imprisoned with those who are condemned to penalties decreed by the law; the second, to prevent any one from being kept in prison uselessly and without a regular sentence. The chief superintendence of the prisons is intrusted to the Valis in the Vilayets, to the Mutessarifs in the sandjaks, and to the Kaïmakams in the cazas. A Registrar nominated by the Authorities, and who is at the same time to be director of the prison, shall be charged with registering the names of the detained persons and with drawing up the reports. ART. XI. The Valis shall, in the first place, take the necessary measures to constitute the Councils in the form recommended. They shall select the directors and warders of the prisons. They shall then establish in the chief place of the Vilayets and sandjaks a Committee of First Instance, composed of a President and two members, Mussulmans and non-Mussul mans. Prisons. Arrests. ART. XII. It will be the duty of these Committees to inquire into the causes which have led to the arrest by the zaptiehs of the accused persons, and to order them to be imprisoned and interrogated, if the act attributed to them is of a nature to bring on them the penalties decreed by law; to set immediately at liberty, upon bail, those whose conduct does not require the application of the law; to see that no one is retained in prison without necessity. The Committees shall daily draw up, and shall send in to the Valis, reports indicating which of the individuals brought to the police office have been set at liberty, and which have been kept under arrest. Landed Property. ART. XIII. All Ottoman subjects without distinction can acquire lands belonging to private persons, whether handed over by way of transfer, or to the State as "Mahbul" (escheat), or sold by auction, or, lastly, lands that are free. ART. XIV. Special instructions will be drawn up concerning the manner of drawing out and handing over titles of property, the principle and the collection of the tax for exoneration from military service, the construction of roads and other works of public utility, the progress and development of agriculture, the administration of the agricultural treasuries, and lastly, the improvement of the assessment of the taxes and of the sources of the local contributions.. These instructions will be most explicit touching the duties of the Valis relative to these matters, who will be bound to conform strictly thereto. The Valis are authorized to execute all the measures authenticated by the special instructions, and they are personally responsible as well for their non-execution as for the abuses which may arise. Chapter III.-General Duties of the Valis, or their Powers properly so-called. ART. XV. The duties of the Valis are, as has been specified |