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

It seems that Corcos was not the only protégé who preferred to avoid Carstensen’s
consular court. In 1872, Carstensen dismissed Accan Levy, a Moroccan Jew who had been
working as the interpreter for the British vice-consulate in Essaouira for a number of years. 135
His explanation of his decision was brief but telling: “…proofs were obtained of Accan Levy
being in the habit of applying to the local authorities, and of arranging cases of litigation without
the vice-consul’s knowledge and consent; as also of his exacting unlawful remunerations and
fees from persons in town.” In other words, Carstensen accused Levy of arranging for cases
which concerned British subjects or protégés to be tried in sharī‘a or Makhzan courts. Most such
cases would normally have been subject to British jurisdiction; this was the case for a dispute
between Levy and Baruch Ohayon, a Moroccan Jew working as a commercial agent for the
Englishman Grace. 136 Although Ohayon benefited from British protection as the associate of a
British merchant, Levy wanted to avoid having their case tried by Carstensen because he was
convinced that Carstensen would rule against him. Levy instead brought the case before the
local pasha. However, Carstensen found out what Levy had done and insisted on trying the case
since Ohayon was a British protégé. We can surmise that many of the cases which Levy
redirected to “the local authorities” were similar to his dispute with Ohayon—that is, they were
cases that should have been subject to British consular jurisdiction. It is also important to note
that, like Levy, the vast majority of people with access to British jurisdiction in Essaouira at this
time were Jewish. 137 This makes it likely that a significant number of those bribing Levy to
bring their cases to Islamic courts were Jews.
135
FO 635/4, p. 32a-b, 11 April 1872 and FO, 631/5, Carstensen to Hay, 26 April 1872.
136
FO, 631/5, Carstensen to Hay, 13 March 1873. Presumably this letter refers to an incident before April 1872,
when Levy was dismissed from his post.
137
Though there were some British subjects (merchants, ship captains, and sailors) as well as some Muslim
protégés, these were far outnumbered by the many Jewish merchants who had obtained British protection: Schroeter,
Merchants of Essaouira, especially Chapter 3.
326