Youssef Wahba

Yusuf Wahba (Arabic يوسف وهبه; * 1852 in Cairo, † 1934) was an Egyptian politician and lawyer.

Life

He was born into a prominent Coptic family. His father Wahba Bey was the founder of the first Coptic Charitable Society, which included Muslim scholars such as Abdallah Nadim and Sheikh Muhammad Abduh.

Yusuf Wahba translated the Code Napoleon into Arabic, as he worked in the Ministry of Justice 1875-1882, and worked at the modern justice system with Egypt. He was in 1894 one of the first Egyptian judges to the Joint Appeals Courts.

In 1912, was Yusuf Wahba Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance in 1914 - a post which he held until May 1920. As finance minister, he introduced the first bill in Egypt, supported by the Egyptian Sultanate, the notes bore his signature as Minister of Finance. On November 19, 1919, he became Prime Minister of Egypt. Many members of the Coptic community, to which he belonged, disapproved of his appointment. During his tenure as Prime Minister Yusuf Wahba opened a number of economic reforms, including the abolition of price controls on agricultural products and the establishment of the first National Bank, Banque Misr, by Talaat Harb Pasha.

He joined the first independent Senate, in which he was elected in 1924 for the district of Alexandria. During his membership in the Egyptian Senate, he supported various laws that strengthened the independence of the Egyptian judiciary. He opposed the introduction of any privileges for minorities based on ethnicity and religion (including the Copts ), which were proposed in 1917 by the Brunyate Commission on judicial reforms. He retired in 1930 from the Senate from.

Yusuf Wahba published two writings on commercial law in Egypt, the first along with Shafik Mansour Bey - " Sharh al - Qanun al - Madani " (An Analysis of the Egyptian Civil Code ) and the second with Abdel Aziz Kahil Bey, a fellow judges from the Joint Court of Justice: " Sharh al - qanun al -Masri at- Tidschari " ( An Analysis of The Egyptican Commercial code ). Youssef Wahba also wrote the statutes of the Majllis Milli, the first Coptic Council regulated the affairs of the Coptic community in Egypt outside the Coptic Orthodox Church.

He died in 1934 and was married to Doudou, daughter of Mikhail Bey El Nakkadi. He had eight children. Two of his sons, Mourad Wahba Pasha (1879-1972) and Sadek Wahba Pasha (1885-1971), also proposed a successful career in the Egyptian judicial system and in the diplomatic service.