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Administrative division and the judiciary

Administrative division and the judiciary

Point 4 of 6 — Lesson 14: Building the Modern State – Education, Administration and Army under Muhammad AliQuestion bank: 0 questions (0 with pictures)

04Administrative division and the judiciary

Administrative division

  • Under Ottoman rule Egypt was divided into 16 regions; Muhammad Ali made changes so that the financial burdens on the people were equalised.
  • He divided the country into seven mdiriyahs (governorates), nearly equal, each headed by a director.
  • Each mdiriyah was divided into marakiz headed by a mamur, then sections headed by a nazir, then districts and villages headed by an omdeh or sheikh al-balad.
  • The Turkish element held every administrative post except sheikh al-balad, omdeh and the financial posts; Egyptians were then substituted gradually, and by the end of the 1870s all posts were Egyptianised except the high ranks in the army.

The judiciary

  • He created a new judicial body called Gam'iyat al-Haqqaniyya (1847) to try senior officials; it functioned as a court for felonies and misdemeanours.
  • He created a commercial court called Majlis al-Tijara (the Board of Commerce) to settle commercial disputes between the people, or between them and foreigners; foreign representatives were part of its composition.

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