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Kurulus Osman 86 With English Subtitle | Onubad Media
Kurulus Osman 86 With English Subtitle
Kurulus Osman 86
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LAW: SULTANIC LAW (KÂNÛN) AND RELIGIOUS LAW (ŞERÎAT) K.O 86
Kurulus Osman 86 According to Tursun Bey, writing in the late fifteenth century, the sultan could make regulations and enact laws entirely on his own initiative. These laws, independent of the şerîat and known as kânûn, were based on rational and not religious principles and were enacted primarily in the spheres of public and administrative law. Watch Now
Some Islamic jurists, including Ibn Khaldûn, considered kânûn – law based solely on the sultan’s decree – unnecessary, maintaining that the şerîat – the religious law of Islam – could solve all legal problems. Other jurists maintained that kânûn was both necessary and legal, provided that the şerîat made no statement on the case in question; that the law conformed to a generally accepted custom or principle that could serve as a basis for analogy; that it was necessary for the welfare of the Islamic community; that the sovereign could effectively enforce the law; and that it contained nothing contrary to the şerîat. Kurulus Osman 86 Watch Now
The preface to the kânûnnâme, attributed to Süleymân I but actually codified towards the end of the fifteenth century, states that ‘the sultan has commanded the codification of Ottoman kânûn since these regulations are essential for prosperity in the affairs of the world and for the regulation of the affairs of the people. Kurulus Osman 86 With the spread of Turkish rule in the mid-eleventh century, the principle of kânûn became firmly established in Islamic legal practice since in Turkish tradition, sovereignty and the establishment of a royal code of laws – törü – were intimately related. Furthermore, rulers did not wish to recognize any limitation to their political authority.
Kânûn was already an established principle in the near east, in the period immediately before the rise of the Ottomans. Ottoman kânûn originated as fermâns – ‘Whatever the sultan decrees is the sultan’s law’ – and was thus a set of regulations which individual sultans had issued as circumstances required. They had, therefore, to be confirmed whenever a new ruler came to the throne. The fundamental and immutable law was the şerîat, the religious law of Islam. Fermâns always contained a formula stating that the enactment conformed with the şerîat and previously established kânûn. Kurulus Osman 86 Watch Now
Kurulus Osman 86 There were three categories of kânûn. First, there were decrees, in the character of laws, which sultans had issued on specific topics. Scattered collections of documents contain thousands of these legal decrees, which constitute the bulk of Ottoman kânûn. Secondly, there were decrees which concern a particular region or social group.2 Thirdly, there were general kânûnnâmes applicable to the whole empire.
The central government, usually in response to administrative problems or needs, issued most of these laws, which secretaries formulated as fermâns. After checking and initialing these documents, the grand vizier and the nişanc formally presented them to the sovereign and after his oral or written confirmation, they became law. The same procedure was followed in the issuance of all laws, regardless of who proposed them in the first place.
There are, however, some rare instances where the sultan promulgated laws directly, without the intermediate steps. The compilation of a kânûnnâme, or the exposition of a point of law, was always within the nişanc ’s sphere of competence. Kurulus Osman 86 Watch Now
Tax and population surveys in particular gave rise to suggestions for new laws. When the Ottomans undertook such a survey in a newly conquered region, their first step was to ascertain the pre-conquest laws and customs of the area. They did not seek to annul all the laws, customs, and institutions of conquered territory but preferred to maintain many local usages, hoping thereby to avoid the unrest that might follow the sudden introduction of a new system.
Furthermore, experience had taught them that drastic change brought a decrease in tax revenues. In these areas, the commissioner of the survey merely abolished those practices which were contrary to the şerîat and Ottoman legal principles. The others he recorded and forwarded to the capital for the sultan’s approval. In later surveys, alterations might be made or Ottoman laws replace the old regulations. After the conquest of eastern Anatolia in 1517–18, and of Iraq in 1537, the Ottomans preserved the laws of the Akkoyunlu ruler, Uzun Hasan. They similarly maintained the laws of the Mamlûk sultan, Kayitbay, in Egypt and Syria. After 1540, however, typically Ottoman regulations replaced the Akkoyunlu code. Kurulus Osman 86 Watch Now
Although the tax regulations for Hungary in the second half of the sixteenth century were essentially Ottoman, some of the principal taxes were nevertheless survivals or adaptations from the times of the Hungarian kings. After the conquests of Cyprus and Georgia, as had largely been the case in Hungary, Ottoman laws were immediately introduced. However, it is certain that in the earlier periods local practices had held a more prominent place in the Ottoman regulations and, indeed, had had a great influence on the development of the typically Ottoman kânûn.
The Ottomans also preserved, unchanged from the pre-conquest period, regulations governing the status of certain groups. In Serbia and Bosnia, the old Ottoman mining statutes, and decrees concerning the organization of the Vlachs, were exact translations of the earlier native laws. When in the mid-sixteenth century the region was no longer on the frontier, the Vlachs became subject to the normal Ottoman reâyâ laws.4 The commissioner of a survey could write to the sultan, recommending the abolition or revision of the law, showing due cause.
The need for this usually arose from the complaints of the local population or from the need to increase revenue. If the sultan accepted the proposals and issued a fermân, the laws of the region would be amended accordingly. The new surveys were thus crucial in establishing and modifying the legal regulations of a region. Kurulus Osman 86 Watch Now
There was a survey register for each sanjak5 – the principal administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire – and from the time of Bâyezîd II it became customary to preface each of these registers with the kânûnnâme of that sanjak, according to which local disputes could be settled. The main purpose of the sanjak kânûnnâmes was to show the rates and manner of collection of the taxes in the timars. In this connection, they described the laws of land tenure and transfer, and the legal status and exemptions of the reâyâ. Less frequently they included separate lists showing the market and customs dues in the cities. They rarely contained criminal laws or laws governing the status of the military class.
Although each sanjak had its own regulations, they all conformed in their essentials to the kânûn-i osmânî. There was in fact a legal system peculiar to the Ottomans, and fundamental to the régime, and the Ottomans considered any customs contrary to this system as unjust innovations. The two kânûnnâmes of Mehmed the Conqueror systematized this body of law – the kânûn-i osmânî – for the first time. Kurulus Osman 86 Watch Now
The first of these compilations, issued immediately after the conquest of Constantinople, concerns the reâyâ. The first section contains a code of criminal law applicable to all reâyâ, but the section regulating taxation treats Muslims and Christians separately. Kurulus Osman 86 Watch Now
It deals primarily with the taxes due from the reâyâ to timar-holders, systematizing them, in conformity with the survey registers, as reâyâ taxes, tithes, labor services, and, finally, market dues. This kânûnnâme is a codification of laws that had been in force up to the time of Mehmed the Conqueror and it is, therefore, natural to find in it strong local influences.
The Conqueror’s second kânûnnâme of about 1476 dates from the last years of his sultanate and concerns state organizations. The nişanc who compiled it wrote in the introduction that he had, by royal command, collected the laws of the sultan’s forefathers and that the sultan himself had made several additions. Mehmed’s written order at the beginning of the work confirms the codification and, in the end, he wrote, ‘Thus far has the state been ordered. Let my sons who follow me strive for its improvement.
The kânûnnâme shows the chief officials of the government and Palace, together with their powers, promotions, ranks, salaries and pensions, protocols, and punishments. It strongly reflects the concept of the sultan as the center of government and the source of all authority, with a system of protocol based on the degree of proximity to the sultan as its framework. These concepts and forms are entirely Turco-Islamic and not, as has sometimes been thought, Byzantine.
Apart from these two general kânûnnâmes, the Conqueror issued a number of legislative decrees concerned with mining, the circulation of coins, the mint, customs, monopolies, and the collection of certain taxes, and regulations governing the status of certain groups.7 These laws and regulations, which remained in force with minor revisions until the seventeenth century, display strong local influences. Kurulus Osman 86 Watch Now
Although later additions and modifications widened its scope, the Conqueror’s kânûnnâme governing the status of the reâyâ remained the nucleus of the kânûn-i osmânî. The first major additions must have been made before 1501, in the time of Bâyezîd II. Kurulus Osman 86 Watch Now
Kurulus Osman 86 Watch Now
To Be continue…..
