478 A TROPICAL DEPENDENCY of the Supreme Court. There are also British provincial courts, presided over by the Resident in charge, of which one is situated in every province. All sentences of death and punishments for serious offences awarded in these courts must await confirmation by the High Commissioner, who, of course, acts with the advice of his law officers. A Resident has no judicial power outside his own province. All other officers exercising civil judicial powers in the province are Commissioners of the provincial court, and may hold courts in any district of the province. Native courts, of which there may be an unlimited number in every province, complete the judicial system. They are constituted by warrant, and the extent of their powers is laid down in the warrant appointing them. No native court, except those of Kano and Sokoto, to which the concession has lately been made, has had power given to it to pass sentence of death, and in these two courts the death sentence is subject to the concurrence of the Resident. The Resident of the province has access at all times to the native court, and may transfer any case from it to the provincial court. He thus exercises supervision over the native court.

In the native courts justice is administered by a native judge called the Alkali or El Kadi. Under the old native system he usually sat alone as judge, and the emir or head chief also usually held a court dealing chiefly with political cases. There was also usually a Limam, who dealt with cases of probate and divorce.

As found at the time when British administration was introduced, the powers and constitution of native courts varied with every province, and, as has been mentioned in a previous chapter, the system of justice had from different causes greatly deteriorated.

The policy of the British Government is to interfere as little as possible with these courts, but merely to restore them to the original purity of their jurisdiction, subject to the abolition of punishments which modern