Law of the Ottoman Empire

The Tower of Justice in Topkapi Palace

The Ottoman Empire was governed by different sets of laws during its existence. The Qanun, sultanic law, co-existed with religious law (mainly the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence).[1][2][3] Legal administration in the Ottoman Empire was part of a larger scheme of balancing central and local authority (see Legal pluralism).[4] Ottoman power revolved crucially around the administration of the rights to land, which gave a space for the local authority develop the needs of the local millet.[4] The jurisdictional complexity of the Ottoman Empire was aimed to permit the integration of culturally and religiously different groups.[4]

  1. ^ Katz, Stanley Nider (2009). Ottoman Empire: Islamic Law in Asia Minor (Turkey) and the Ottoman Empire - Oxford Reference. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195134056. Retrieved 2017-11-18.
  2. ^ "Balancing Sharia: The Ottoman Kanun". Turkish Forum English. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  3. ^ De Groot, A.H., 2010. 6. The Historical Development of the Capitulatory Regime in the Ottoman Middle East from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century. In The Netherlands and Turkey (pp. 95-128). Gorgias Press.
  4. ^ a b c Benton, Lauren (3 December 2001). Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in World History, 1400–1900. Cambridge University Press. pp. 109–110. ISBN 978-0-521-00926-3. Retrieved 11 February 2013.