IN THE COURTS OF THE NATIONS - DataSpace - Princeton ...

foreign diplomats, the present chapter traces the history of foreign intervention in Morocco and
the evolution and functioning of consular courts in the nineteenth century. 13
Protection and Politics in Morocco
Morocco underwent profound political changes during the nineteenth century. Foreign
nations gained more and more influence in Moroccan internal affairs, and the imperial ambitions
of states like France, Britain, and Spain became increasingly evident. The system of consular
protection was among the most important ways in which foreign states demonstrated their power
and chipped away at the authority of the Makhzan. 14 Following the capitulation treaties first
signed with the Moroccan sultan in the eighteenth century, Western nations extended their
official protection to growing numbers of Moroccan Jews and Muslims. 15 The practice of
extending extraterritoriality to locals was not unique to Morocco; the Ottoman Empire had
signed treaties of capitulation with foreign nations starting in the sixteenth century and a system
incomplete, see, e.g., FO, 631/3, Carstensen to Hay, 29 November 1869, in which Frederick Carstensen (the British
consul in Essaouira) explained that although he heard about fifteen cases per week in the consular court, he did not
keep records of these cases because he did not deem them of sufficient import. See also MAE Courneuve, CP
Maroc 50, Féraud to de Freycinet, 9 March 1886, in which Féraud observed: “…j’ai le regret de constater que
nombre de pièces ayant trait aux questions les plus importantes … ne se trouvent plus dans les archives de la
Légation.” For a similar comment, see MAE Courneuve, CP Maroc 53, Féraud to Flourens, 28 September 1887.
13
Although the system of consular protection has been treated extensively in the historiography of Morocco (see
most notably Kenbib, Les protégés), there is only a single, brief article about the nature of consular courts and the
jurisdictions governing them: Albert Lourde, “Les juridictions consulaires dans le Maroc pré-colonial,” in La justice
au Maroc, ed. François-Paul Blanc (Toulouse: Presses Universitaires de Perpignan et Presse de l’Université des
sciences sociales de Toulouse, 1998). For an analysis of one particular case, see also Jacques Caillé, “Un procès
consulaire à Mogador en 1867,” Hésperis 40, no. 3e et 4e trimestres (1953).
14
On this argument generally, see esp. Mohammed Kenbib, “Structures traditionelles et protections étrangères au
Maroc au XIXe siècle,” Hésperis-Tamuda 22 (1984) and idem, Les protégés.
15
On the legal basis for the protection of foreigners, see, e.g., Alexandre J. H. de Clercq and C. de Vallat, Guide
pratique des consulats : Publié sous les auspices du ministère des affaires étrangères, 2 vols. (Paris: A. Pedone,
1898), v. 1, 355-6.
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