Tunisia is formally established as a French…

Tunisia is formally established as a French protectorate by the La Marsa Convention, signed in 1883 by Bey Ali Muddat ibn al-Husayn, the younger brother and successor of Muhammad III as-Sadiq.

It deprives the Bey of Tunis of control over internal matters by committing him to implement administrative, judicial, and financial reform dictated by France.

French officials use several methods to control the Tunisian government.

They urge the Bey to nominate members of the pre-colonial ruling elite to such key post as prime-minister, because these people are personally loyal to the Bey and follow his lead in offering no resistance to the French.

At the same time, the rulers obtain the dismissal of Tunisians who had supported the 1881 rebellion or had otherwise opposed the extension of French influence.

A Frenchman holds the office of secretary general to the Tunisian government, created in 1883 to advise the prime minister and oversee and coordinate the work of the bureaucracy.

French experts answerable only to this secretary general and the Resident-General manage and staff those government offices, collectively called the Technical Services, that deal with finances, public works, education, and agriculture.

To help him implement the reforms alluded to in the La Marsa Convention, the Resident-General has the power to promulgate executive decrees, reducing the Bey to little more than a figurehead.

French law and French courts are introduced in 1883; hereafter, French law applies to all French and foreign residents.

The other European powers agree to give up the consular courts they had maintained to protect their nationals from the Tunisian judiciary.

The French courts also tries cases in which one litigant is Tunisian, the other European.

The protectorate authorities make no attempt to alter Muslim religious courts in which judges, or qadis, trained in Islamic law hear relevant cases.

A beylical court handling criminal cases operates under French supervision in the capital.