Belgian7 Congo 55 JUDICIARY ; CIVIL RIGHTS .

a native court unnecessary except in so far as under native law an appeal lies from a subordinate chief's court to that of the superior chief.

The Rights of the Subject. — The Charter grants the same civil rights to Belgians, foreigners, and to matricu lated natives, who enjoy the benefit of the written law , and fall under the operation of the customary law only when the written law does not cover the case . Any native can obtain matriculation on his own application, and certain classes , composed of natives who have been in service with Europeans, in the army, &c . , are automatically matriculated . All natives are protected from forced labour for any individual or company by the Charter itself ; the executive power is absolutely forbidden to suspend the operation of the judicial power, which is placed, through the Procurator General, directly , under the Minister of the Colonies, and the judges are given security of tenure against the executive. On the other hand, while the law. does not recognize or regulate the status of domestic slavery, it does not penalize it, and the institution forms an essential part of the native regime which the native ; courts sustain .

The Commission for the Protection of the Natives. The State regime created in September 1896 a.com mission 3 which was to exercise a benevolent guardian ship over native rights. The project was at the time an idle farce ; the members selected were 200 miles or more from the districts where atrocities were being com-: mitted, and no provision for travelling expenses was made. The Charter provided for a more effective body, 1 1 The actions of the executive are not subject to control by the . civil courts, a decision reaffirmed in 1913 by the Colonial Council in their report of July 12 ( Bulletin officiel, 1913 , pp . 716 seq .). : ' ) 2 Cd . 5860, p . 40 ; Weeks , Among Congo Cannibals, pp . 112-14 . 3 Cd . 1754 ; see Johnston, George Grenfell, i . 440, n . 2 .