Jules Grévy to By the President of the Republic: The, March 27, 1883

Law concerning the organization of French courts in Tunis.

The Senate and Chamber of Deputies have adopted, and the President of the Republic has promulgated, the following law:

Article 1. A French court and six justices of the peace shall be established in the regency of Tunis.

The court of first instance shall sit at Tunis; the justices of the peace shall sit at Tunis, at Goletta, at Bizerta, at Sousa, at Sfax, and at Keff.

The district in which the court shall have jurisdiction shall, embrace the entire regency. The district of each justice of the peace shall be determined by a decree to be issued with the advice and consent of the council of state.

If the necessities of the judicial service shall require it, other courts of first instance and other justices of the peace may be appointed by regulations which shall determine what territory their jurisdiction shall comprise.

Art. 2. These courts shall be dependent upon the court of Algiers. They shall have jurisdiction in all civil and commercial cases between French citizens and French protégés. They shall likewise have jurisdiction in all suits brought against French citizens and French protégés for violations of law, misdemeanors or crimes.

Their competence may be extended to all other persons by orders or decrees of his highness the Bey, rendered with the consent of the French Government.

Art. 3. Justices of the peace shall have, in civil and penal cases, the same extended competence that is determined by the decree of August 19, 1854. Nevertheless, justices of the peace sitting in a town where there is a court of first instance shall have this extended competence only in personal actions, or actions relative to personal property in civil or commercial cases; in all others they shall exercise their ordinary competence, as determined by the laws and decrees in force in Algeria.

Art. 4. The court of first instance shall have final jurisdiction in personal actions and actions relating to personal property in which the amount involved does not exceed 3,000 francs, and in actions relating to real estate in which the amount involved does not exceed 120 francs of income. In cases tried for the first time, its competence shall be unlimited. It shall have original jurisdiction in all cases in which justices of the peace do not have jurisdiction in accordance with the foregoing article.

In criminal cases it shall have final jurisdiction in all cases defined as crimes, with the assistance of six associate judges, who shall have a vote, and who shall be drawn “from a list which shall be prepared every year in a manner to be determined by an executive regulation. If the accused party, or one of the accused parties, is a French citizen or a French protégé, the associate judges shall all be French citizens.

Art. 5. Cases shall be brought to the cognizance of the court having jurisdiction in criminal cases by an order of reference issued by the chamber of indictments of the court of Algiers, according to the provisions of the code of preliminary criminal examination; its decisions shall be rendered in the same manner as decisions in cases of misdemeanors.

Art. 6. The court, assisted by associate judges, as provided in Art. 4, shall hold its sessions every three months at such times as shall be appointed by ministerial order.

Art. 7. With the exceptions provided for in the foregoing articles, the rules of procedure and of criminal examination which are determined by the laws, decrees, and ordinances in force in Algeria, shall be applicable to the courts established in Tunis.

Art. 8. The time allowed for summonses and appeals shall be fixed according to the royal ordinances of April 16, 1883.

Nevertheless, if the party summoned is not a resident of Tunis, the time allowed for obedience to a summons shall be:

For parties living in other countries, either in Europe or on the shores of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, two months.

For parties living beyond these limits, five months.

Art. 9. When there is occasion for the publication of legal notices, they shall be printed in one of the newspapers designated for this purpose by order of the minister resident of France at Tunis, and if they shall appear in any other newspaper they shall be null and void.

Art. 10. The provisions of the ministerial order of November 26, 1841, relative to the office of defender, and the provisions of the decrees and orders concerning the discharge of the office of bailiff in Algeria, shall be likewise applicable in Tunis. Nevertheless, French citizens and foreigners who shall, at the time of the promulgation of this law, be engaged in the practice of the legal profession in Tunis, and who shall, within one month from the date of said promulgation, have addressed to the minister resident a request to be allowed to represent the parties before the court of Tunis, may, after the opinion of the court given in the chamber of the council (the attorney of the Republic having been heard), be permitted, by decree by way of exception, to act as defenders before that court.

Art. 11. The court at Tunis shall consist of a presiding judge, three actual judges, two judges to fill vacancies, one attorney of the Republic, and one clerk. One of the judges, who shall be appointed by the ministry of justice, shall act as examining judge. The number of the judges and substitutes may be increased, and assistant clerks may be appointed by decrees issued in the form of executive regulations.

Art. 12. The justices’ courts shall consist of one justice of the peace, of one or more justices to fill vacancies, and one clerk. An officer of the judicial police shall act as public minister.

Art. 13. Interpreters shall be attached to the courts and justices of the peace.

Art. 14. The decrees providing for the appointment and removal of magistrates, ministerial officers and interpreters shall be issued on motion of the keeper of the seals and minister of justice.

Art. 15. The magistrates composing the courts established in Tunis, the clerk’s assistants, and the interpreters attached to these courts, shall be subject to the laws and regulations governing the Algerian jurisdiction. The conditions of age and capacity as regards appointments shall be the same that are required in Algeria for the discharge of the same functions. Their salaries shall be fixed according to the table appended to this law.

Art. 16. The office of notary shall continue to be discharged in the regency by French consular officers until said office shall have been organized by an executive regulation.

Art. 17. The tariff of costs in civil and criminal cases shall be fixed by an executive regulation. Until the promulgation of the said executive regulation, the courts shall observe the tariffs in force in Algeria.

Art. 18. All provisions concerning consular jurisdiction, applicable in the regency of Tunis, are hereby abolished so far as they may conflict with the foregoing provisions.

Art. 19. This law shall take effect three days after its publication in the official journal of the Tunisian Government.

This law, having been considered and adopted by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, shall be executed as a law of the state.

Table appended to the law providing for the organization of French courts in Tunis, fixing the salaries of magistrates and judicial officers in Tunis.

court at tunis.

justice court.