Ottoman Judicial Change in the Age of Modernity: A Reappraisal

Abstract

Legal reform was a key element in the passage of the Ottoman empire to modernity during the ‘long nineteenth century’. This article discusses the modern historiography of Ottoman judicial change while taking issue with the notions of secularization and westernization, which are omnipresent in the conventional legal history of the nineteenth century. An alternative conceptualization is called for, one that is free from the dichotomous and homogenizing binarity of religious/secular, thus allowing more nuanced representations of sociolegal change in general.

The Political Language of Takvîm-i vekayi:the Discourse and Temporality of Ottoman ‘Reform’ (1831-1834)

“…In the Ottoman case of the 1830s, this recurrent use of the term müceddid thus places the discourse of the official gazette in the wake of Muslim reformism. It also anticipates, as it were, the vast codification activity that the political authorities launched from the 1840s onwards (Rubin 2016: especially 840-841), whose hybrid character -qualified neither as secularization nor westernization -has recently been emphasized (Rubin 2008). In other words, the use of the term claims the right to act freely in radically reconfiguring the administrative and political system, prematurely brushing aside the criticisms of opponents who resort to the kanûn-ı kadîm argument 26 .…”

The judge as tragic hero: Judicial ethics in Lebanon's shari'a courts

“…Under Ottoman modernization in the 19th century, a number of new judicial mechanisms and tribunals were instituted, including “regular” (nizāmiyya) courts that applied codified law and whose jurisdiction came to extend over all criminal, civil, and commercial cases. The “shari'a courts” were, thus, by the end of the 19th century, left to judge matters of personal status and religious endowments alone, the culmination of a process of nominal “secularization” that has been extensively researched and hotly debated (Asad 2003:218–227; Rubin 2009). They were not, however, isolated from reform in this regard either.…”

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

“…As I argue elsewhere, such a characterization of modern Ottoman law is an anachronistic projection backward of modern‐Turkish secularism, rendering it the climax of a so‐called process of secularization. In fact, the distinction between secular and religious legal spheres is a later invention, of the post‐Ottoman period (Rubin 2009). The reformers did not view the fusion of Islamic and borrowed law as an anomaly.…”

“…The value of the consular reports for the study of the judicial sphere is unclear, however. Though historians of the Middle East have not questioned the importance of the legal change brought about with the establishment of the Nizamiye courts, only recently the courts have become became the subject of systematic research, focusing on “law in action” (Rubin 2009). Potentially, therefore, the British consular reports may form an important source for the purpose of assessing the performance of the Nizamiye courts.…”