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

and, since it only concerned protégés, should have been notarized by the Spanish or French
consulate. Collombe, the French consul in Casablanca, was outraged by this argument:
He [Ruiz] cannot be ignorant of the fact—and he is not ignorant of it—that the deeds
drawn up by ‘udūl are perfectly valid. Do we not make use of them every day, and are
our reclamations not based on these deeds [drawn up] by ‘udūl? Do not European
merchants themselves have the acknowledgements that the censal-protégés deliver to
them concerning the sums they have received drawn up by ‘udūl? Has one ever thought
to contest the legality of these deeds? 60
Collombe went on to explain that it was necessary to rely on the notarization of ‘udūl because
censals (business associates of foreigners or protégés who had a status much like that of
protégés) were liable to change their protection often. “Today the protégé of one power,
tomorrow he can be under Moroccan jurisdiction, which only recognizes deeds [drawn up] by
‘udūl. What would happen to the owner of a deed of guarantee that was drawn up by a consulate
in such a case?” 61 Yet Collombe’s argument was not only based on the fact that censals were
liable to change nationalities at any moment; he ultimately emphasized practice, noting that
consular courts had consistently relied on legal documents notarized by ‘udūl without
questioning their validity for at least as long as Collombe could remember. In the end,
Collombe’s reasoning prevailed and Fatmi was forced to pay Bendahan what he owed according
to the Islamic bill of debt. 62
Foreign nationals’ and protégés’ may have been willing to rely on Islamic legal
documents, but they were not always able to secure the notarization of ‘udūl and qāḍī which
made these documents valid. 63 In some cases it is clear that qāḍīs explicitly ordered ‘udūl not to
60
MAE Nantes, Tanger A 164, Collombe to de Monbel, 19 April 1895.
61
Ibid.
62
MAE Nantes, Tanger A 164, Collombe to de Monbel, 27 September 1895.
63
See, e.g., USNA, Reg. 84, v. 29, Abraham Corcos to ‘Amāra b. ‘Abd al-Ṣādiq, 9 Rabī‘ I 1298/ 9 February 1881;
MAE Nantes, Tanger A 161, Isaac Alioua to Ordega, 3 September 1884; DAR, Yahūd, Mawlāy Ismā‘īl to ‘Abdallāh
b. Aḥmad, 21 Shawwāl 1303; MAE Nantes, Tanger A 160, Marcily to Monbel, 19 October 1894; USNA, Reg. 84,
v. 150, Broome to Gummere, 27 July 1900. See also MAE Nantes, Tanger A 161, Liste détaillée des affaires
308