ALEXANDRE BOUZOUROU Vs. OTTOMAN BANK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the present case the appellant, who appeals by special leave in forma pauperis, sues the respondent Bank for damages for wrongful dismissal and for a declaration that he was entitled to be paid a monthly pension of ?39 4s. by the respondents. He appeals from a decision of the Supreme Court of Cyprus dated 27 March 1928, reversing the decision of the trial Judge. The appellant, who is a Christian Ottoman subject, entered the service of the Bank in April 1905, and remained in its service until 7 March 1927 when he was dismissed without notice and without pension, because of his refusal to conform to an order by the respondents in January 1927, for his transfer from the branch at Stamboul, where he was then employed, to the branch at Mersina, a town in the Asiatic provinces of Turkey on the south-east coast of Asia Minor.

(2.) The appellant maintains (1) that under the terms of his contract of service, the sphere of his employment did not include the provinces of Turkey, but only the Head Office and branches in Constantinople and its suburbs, which include Stamboul, and (2) esto that the provinces of Turkey were included, the particular order was unreasonable in view of his ignorance of Turkish and the hostile attitude of the Turkish civil authorities, and was one which he was not bound to obey.

(3.) On 25 January 1905, an advertisement (Ex. A-1 (1) appeared in the newspaper Stamboul in Constantinople, which stated : " The Imperial Ottoman Bank offers under competitive examination five posts in its offices in Constantinople or in the provinces".