Sir John Scott (4 June 1841 – 1 March 1904) was an English judge who became Deputy Judge Advocate-General and later Judicial Advisor to the Khedive in his adopted home, Egypt. He was also known as a cricketer in his youth, active from 1861 to 1863 when he played for Oxford University. Scott was renowned for wit, humour and humanity. His position in the annals of imperial legal jurisprudence contributed to the successful legal defence of British Egypt during two world wars. A sure touch, and a deft hand, he articulated a source of justice residing in the everlasting verities of English common law.
Early life
Scott was born in Standishgate Wigan to Edward Scott, a solicitor, and his first wife Annie Glover. After the death of his wife, Edward Scott married Laura Hill, the daughter of the headmaster of Bruce Castle School, Arthur Hill. They had a further two sons and two daughters, including Nora Lilian Alcock.
From 1852 to 1860 Scott was educated at his stepmother's family concern, the Bruce Castle School in Tottenham. The school founded by Laura's grandfather Thomas Wright Hill instructed their students in science and the arts in such a manner to give a student the ability to continue self-education throughout life. His sons, who all taught there at some point, went on to reform some aspect of Victorian life, from prisons (Matthew and Fredric), the postal service (Rowland, devisor of the penny post and penny black stamp) to envelopes (Edwin, invented a machine to fold envelopes). Her father Arthur was headmaster during Scott's time at Bruce Castle and her brother George Birkbeck Hill became his lifelong friend.
Matriculating at Pembroke College, Oxford, Scott graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1864 and became a Master of Arts in 1869. It was during this time his talent as a cricketer brought him recognition. He appeared in four first-class matches as a left-handed fast bowler. His batting hand is unknown. He scored four runs with a highest score of 2 and took 11 wickets with a best performance of five in one innings.John Scott at CricketArchive
Egypt
Called to the bar by the Inner Temple on 17 November 1865, he joined the northern circuit. He wrote on legal questions for "The Times", the "Law Quarterly" and other periodicals and his "Bills of Exchange" (1869) became a widely read textbook. A heart condition hampered him through life. Scott went to the French Riviera for a few months in 1871-72 for his health. While there he mastered French, Italian and the French legal system.The Wigan Observer, 4 March 1904, p6 At the end of 1872 he moved to Alexandria on medical advice to resume his profession. As Egypt's legal system ran on similar lines to the French and Italian jurisprudence the knowledge he had acquired in France proved invaluable. He established a flourishing practice at the British Consular Court. In 1874, on the recommendation of General Sir Edward Staunton, the British Agent and Consular General in Egypt, Scott became the British judge for the new International Courts of Appeal based in Egypt, becoming vice-president in 1881. During his time here Scott regularly contributed to The Times during the Alexandria riots of June 1882; he remained at the court house to assist the protection of the records, ensuring criminals were not let off scot-free from the contempt of destroyed evidence. In the following October the Khedive, Ismail Pasha, conferred the Order of the Osmanie (worn in the painting above) only awarded to civil servants and military leaders for outstanding services to the state. Scott took an interest in the conditions of the agricultural farmers and labourers known as the fellaheen, using his considerable influence to suppress slavery and mistreatment.
India
The end of 1882 Scott was appointed puisne judge of the high court of Bombay. Again he quickly mastered the customs and usages of Indian law whilst simultaneously continuing to write for local and London press, frequently taking note of Egyptian affairs. The diary of his wife published as "An Indian Journal" edited by their grandson, John Radford, covers a varied and interesting life in India, from trials to the elephants at Kandalla.
One trial she mentioned was about a pair of brothers, in her entry for 30 March 1884. "In this week’s Spectator there is a paragraph on a judgement John gave a few days ago. It was a curious case in which some brothers, who had been outcast, agreed to pay a large sum of money in order to be readmitted into their caste and be allowed to marry girls of the caste. The man who managed the whole thing brought an action for a part of the money that he said had not been paid. Certain sums were to be paid to the fathers of the brides through this man, and John ruled that he could not recover such money, as it was in the nature of a purchase of a wife, or wife brokerage, which is totally against English law; and John summed up by saying that although in the low castes the custom of paying for a wife did exist, there was not anywhere, even in Hindu law, any authority for the proceeding, and that it would be wrong "to give marriage brokers a legal status, such as would enable them to enforce their contracts by law." "I think it is immoral and against public policy," he said, "even in the present state of matrimonial relations in India. The tendency of such a decision would be to degrade still further the position of women, and to perpetuate the inequality of their relations with the other sex. In my opinion the contract is void under Section 23 of the Contract Act." The Indian Spectator approves of the decision, and thinks that it will do much good when the marriage brokers, or dalals, find that they have no legal claim for their money."
Return to Egypt
His reputation in Egypt had not diminished by his eight year absence. In 1874 Scott had been nominated to fill the position of English Commissioner of the Public Debt, but the Khedive did not want to deprive the court of appeal of his services. Major Baring, later Lord Cromer, who took the position, requested a loan of Scott’s services from the Indian Government in order that he might examine the whole system of Egyptian jurisprudence and make proposals for its amendment. Lord Cromer had further plans for Scott. He induced the Khedive to not only accept his recommendations but to also appoint Scott as his judicial adviser. The Egyptian Premier, Riaz Pasha, took exception to his appointment creating a tremendous hullabaloo, instructing the French Consular General against this intolerable extension of British power. Scott’s proposals and reputation spoke for themselves and he took the position in 1891, Pasha resigned in the May of that year on the grounds of ill health. It was later acknowledged that Scott’s appointment "has resulted in one of the greatest strides yet made by Egypt in the direction of ultimate self- government". At that time foreigners still enjoyed extraterritorial rights and were only amenable to their own consulate and laws in criminal matters. This privilege had been granted in medieval times to induce foreigners to settle in the Ottoman dominions. His chief aim was to ensure that eventually they could say "We can now give you justice in our own courts; we ask that all who dwell in our country shall be amenable to the ordinary municipal tribunals and law."Journal of the Society of Comparative legislation, Vol. 1, No2, July 1899, pp. 240-252 During his year on loan he visited tribunals, assisting at the hearings, talking to the judges, examining their records and generally studying the actual system in its working all over the country from Assouan to Alexandria. By decreasing the number of judges per trial, increasing the number of courts in Upper Egypt, improving the law school, increasing the number of qualified Egyptian lawyers, reducing the cost of court fees and creating law reports to allow peer review of well-considered judgements and carelessness. He wanted reform not revolution.
The Judiciary
The report found that the judiciary were not all fit for the jobs they held. There were excellent magistrates, but many had been named arbitrarily by the government, some by favour and some because they were unfit for the office they previously held. One man who had been the doorkeeper of a previous Prime Minister had suddenly become a Judge of the Court of Appeal. With the assistance of the Ministry of Justice a list was created of the least capable, they were retired with a pension. A strict was imposed rule that a legal diploma was required for future judicial office and a system of gradual promotion established. No judge was retired before a replacement had been found. Although the law school in Cairo had been neglected and had no director a number of young Egyptians had recently graduated from French and Italian universities with law degrees so candidates for the vacant positions were available. As a means to encourage hard work and a disinclination to take bribes the salaries were increased in line with those of the provincial French judiciary.
Education
Regenerating the Egyptian school of law was essential to Scotts goal. M. Testoud, a French law professor, was appointed as director of the school and was a great success. Within two years they had a good staff of Egyptian, French and Italian teachers with a hundred students. The period of training was four years, with annual exams, and no student was accepted without first passing the secondary examination in the Government schools, so they were sufficiently grounded in general knowledge. As President of the Board of Examiners Scott considered that it was more from the desire of a Government job than love of the law that drove the students to work hard at their studies.
The One Judge System
As the Egyptian courts had been based on the French system cases were sat by either three or five judges. After observing the courts he saw that in practice one judge did the majority of the work but their individual actions were saved from criticism by the presence of his colleagues. His view was that one judge per case would increase the capacity of the court and improve the quality of the work when the judge took sole responsibility for ruling. At first the proposition met with great opposition as it was considered too English. Fortunately Scott discovered Algeria had adopted the same system so eventually the Council of Ministers decided in Scott's favour. Two Bills passed into law: The first enabled a single judge to decide in first instance on civil disputes of claims not exceeding £100 and all criminal cases where the maximum punishment did not exceed two years. The second established local courts of appeal of three judges, who heard, in final instance all appeals from a single judge. Thus the Central Court of Appeal was left free for due consideration of the most important cases. This allowed the country's seven tribunals to be gradually be increased to forty-five one-judge tribunals all over the country. Those who were unable to travel great distances to recover small debts could now go to a local town where an officer of the court would draw their claim on their behalf which was then served at once. The case would be heard on a fixed day, the decision also on that day and the decision executed. If it did go to appeal claimant would not have to travel to Cairo but instead to the local provincial capital. Reducing the court fees increased the number of people seeking civil claims. The Treasury were at first not in favour as they considered it would decrease their revenue. The reduced fee increased the number of cases from 16,800 in 1891 to 69,400 in 1898; 68,445 of these were decided by a single judge. Case volumes rose as revenues increased from £78,000 in 1891 with the high tariff to £115,000 in 1899 with a very low tariff.
Judicial Superintendence and review