Kazis

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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. 

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A straightforward job description was found from 1893: The kazis were native 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.