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appointed to hold the Provincial Court with the sanction of the Judge of the Supreme Court directs.
(3) Where an officer is appointed an additional Judge under this Article he may sit at the same time and place as the Consular officer appointed to hold the Provincial Court, or in a different place, and each sitting shall be deemed a sitting of the Provincial Court.
Local Courts.
20.-(1) Local Courts shall be held by uncommissioned Consular officers at such places in Egypt as may from time to time be appointed under this Order.
(2) The High Commissioner may, by order in writing, appoint places at which Local Courts shall be held, and may assign the district in and for which each such Court shall act, and may designate the Consular officer who shall hold such Court,
(3) Every Local Court shall be styled His Britannic Majesty's Local Court at
(4) Local Courts shall, so far as may be feasible, be grouped together and placed under the superintendence of a Provincial Court, and every reference in this Order to a Provincial Court in relation to a Local Court shall be deemed to be a reference to the Provincial Court under the superintendence of which such Local Court is placed.
(5) A Local Court may, with the approval of the Provincial Court, appoint a competent person or persons to perform such duties and to exercise such powers as are by this Order and any Rules of Court imposed or conferred upon the Registrar and Marshal, and any person so appointed shall perform such duties and exercise such powers accordingly.
(6) In a Local Court the official seal of the Consular officer shall be used as the seal of the Court.
21. All Orders made by the High Commissioner under the three preceding Articles shall be published as he may direct, and copies thereof shall be exhibited as soon as possible in a con- spicuous place in each Consular office and in each Court-house and printed copies shall be sold at such reasonable price as the Supreme Court directs.
Jurisdiction of Courts.
22. The Supreme Court and each Provincial Court shall, in the exercise of every part of its jurisdiction, be a Court of Record.
23. Subject to the provisions of Article 24 :—
(1) All His Majesty's jurisdiction, civil and criminal, includ ing an original jurisdiction concurrent with the jurisdiction of
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the Provincial and Local courts, shall be vested in the Supreme Court and shall be exercised to the extent and in the manner provided by this Order.
(2) All His Majesty's jurisdiction, civil and criminal, not under this order vested exclusively in the Supreme Court shall be vested in the Provincial and Local Courts to be exercised by them respectively to the extent and in the manner provided by this Order.
(3) A Provincial Court shall have an original jurisdiction, con- current with the jurisdiction of the several Local Courts (if any) held within its district.
24. Unless and until His Majesty, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, shall order otherwise, the jurisdiction conferred on the Courts by this Order shall not, subject to the provisions of Article 153, be exercised in any matter, civil or criminal, which is within the jurisdiction of the Egyptian Mixed Tribunals unless the matter is the trial of an offence which is punishable hereunder with three months' imprisonment and is not punishable by the said Tribunals with more than seven days' imprisonment or a fine of one Egyptian pound and unless no proceedings have been commenced before the said Tribunals in regard to such offence,
In the absence of proof to the contrary, the burden of which shall lie on the person charged with the offence, the Court may assume that no proceedings have been commenced.
25. The Registrar of the Supreme Court shall, subject to any directions of the Supreme Court, hear and determine such criminal cases in that Court as may, under this Order, be heard and determined without assessors or jury, and for this purpose shall exercise all the powers and jurisdiction of a Provincial Court.
26. (1) Where any case, civil or criminal, commenced in a Local Court appears to that Court to be beyond its jurisdiction, or to be one which for any other reason ought to be tried in the Provincial Court or the Supreme Court, the Local Court shall report the case to the Provincial Court for directions.
(2) Subject to any directions of the Supreme Court under this Article, a Provincial Court may, of its own motion, or on the report of a Local Court, or on the application of any party con- cerned, require any case, civil or criminal, pending in a Local Court to be transferred to the Provincial Court, or in the case of any such report or application may direct that the case shall proceed in the Local Court.
(3) Where any case, civil or criminal, commenced in a Pro- vincial Court, or reported or transferred to that Court under this Article, appears to the Provincial Court to be beyond its jurisdiction, or to be one which for any other reason ought to be tried in the Supreme Court, the Provincial Court shall report the case to the Supreme Court for directions.
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