British Perceptions of Ottoman Judicial Reform in the Late Nineteenth Century: Some Preliminary Insights

Abstract

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Ottomans founded a new court system, the Nizamiye courts, as part of an empire-wide ambitious project of judicial and administrative reform, which involved legal transplantation from the French model. The institutional evolution of these courts was completed with elaborate legislation introduced in 1879. This article explores British consular and diplomatic accounts dispatched in the immediate aftermath of the 1879 reforms in an attempt to assess the value of these reports for understanding the passage of Ottoman law to modernity. Comparison of British accounts with relevant Ottoman sources and recent research reveals that British consuls and diplomats produced distorted representations of Ottoman judicial reform, exhibiting lack of faith in the effectiveness of these reforms. Misrepresentation resulted from ignorance about the nature of reformed Ottoman law, prejudice, and concerns about the effect of these reforms on the ability of British consuls to interfere with Ottoman court proceedings.

Osmanlı Hukukun Ondokuzuncu Yüzyılda Evrimsel Sekülerleşmesi: Kökler ve Etkileri

“…In other words, the Ottoman experience was "[l]ike other cases of legal transplantation in the history of the world, the resulting judicial system was an amalgam of local and borrowed law designed to address local needs and structures, and it was certainly not a carbon-copy of the French legal system". 74 Findley remarks that there were some changes in the tradition of Ottoman political thought from the 18 th century, and that Ottomans were interested in the French system because of its emphasis upon some concepts such as freedom, equality, centralisation and bureaucratisation. 75 To this end, it should be noted that the land law of 1858 was only partially inspired by the Western codes and was mainly based upon kanunnames, fatwās and imperial decrees.…”

The Reflection of the Change in Commercial Law in the 19th Century Ottoman to Economic Relations: An Analysis on the Court Records in Ceride-i Mehâkim

“…Bu sınıfın ayrıntıları hakkında bilgi için bk. Kemal H. Karpat, Kısa Türkiye Tarihi 1800-2012, haz., G. Ayas (İstanbul: Timaş Yayınları, 2015. 20 Karpat,a.g.e.,43.…”

On Dokuzuncu Yüzyıl Osmanlısında Hukuki Düzenlemeler: Ticaret ve Nizamiye Mahkemesi Kararlarının Yanlılığı Üzerine Lojistik Regresyon Analizi

“…Nizamiye mahkemelerinde uygulanmak üzere hazırlanan Mecelle'nin altyapısının şeri hükümler ve benzer anlama gelecek şekilde şeriye mahkemeleri literatürünün bir özeti niteliğinde olması da yukarıdaki görüşün en önemli kanıtıdır (Ekinci, 2004: 254). Dolayısıyla bu dönemde gerçekleştirilen Osmanlı hukuk reformlarının Batı'nın baskısıyla şekillendiğini savunan geleneksel anlatımın yerine, yeni mahkemelerin kurulması yönündeki kararın gerek Osmanlıların gerekse de yabancıların adli ihtiyaçlarının karşılanması amacıyla oluşturulmuş orijinal bir Osmanlı çözümü olarak değerlendirilmesi daha doğrudur (Rubin, 2012(Rubin, : 1009.…”