As for the second issue, which is granting the Council the authority to make personal status rulings, it is said that a foreign court can now rule on personal status matters as the entire nation would rule. For example, a Syrian court can rule on personal status. This is not incorrect if one says that the lack of jurisdiction of the court in personal status cases leads to many other judicial precedents, each of which carries hardship and difficulty. Therefore, making the local judge competent to hear personal status cases in such stipulated circumstances is what is practiced in some countries, at least, and sometimes even preferred. So, what is the benefit of this change, despite all this? It is not unlikely that after the judicial courts established by it have been in place for years, someone will demand that these courts rule on all personal status cases, except for those that the entire nation is competent to rule on according to the principles of international law. As for now, my opinion is that the original law followed in personal status cases remains in all essential matters the law of the nation to which the judge is appointed, as is currently the case. Also, the jurisdiction to hear and decide these cases remains with the judicial courts. However, since the subjects of the local government have their personal status cases heard in their own courts, Europeans residing in Egypt have the right for their judicial courts to continue to rule on their personal status cases. I do not know if there are other exceptional circumstances besides those for which Articles 217-220 of the Mixed Civil Code were enacted, which gave the courts the authority to rule on them. If there are other circumstances where the courts' authority remains undecided and the Council is prevented from changing any of those articles.

(B) Composition of the Council

I have limited myself in the past to a brief explanation of the project whose nature I clarified in my last annual report and responded to the most prominent criticisms leveled against it. I now intend to investigate the most important and difficult part of it and focus on the composition of the Council. It appears that many acknowledge the urgent need for a mechanism to enact laws that apply to Europeans, but I found that all those who agree with this condition their agreement on handing over this task.