ABSTRACT
When Britain took over the administration of Palestine the country was one of the most backward regions of the Ottoman Empire. Distant from the centre of Government and arousing no interest there, it was allowed to stagnate. For instance under the Ottoman Administration there had been some sort of system of recorded land tenure, although much of the land ownership depended on tradition—among a people such as that of Palestine by no means worthless—but there were also Government records in other cases. There were a few Palestinians who had qualified in, and practised, law in Jerusalem or Constantinople. Unfortunately, however, the apprenticeship they had served had not conduced to the administration of justice on British lines. One brilliant financial stroke effected during Sir Herbert Samuel's Administration was the liquidation of Palestine's share of the Ottoman Public Debt provided for under the Treaty of Lausanne by which the Palestine state was brought into existence.
