Law
The Ottoman legal system accepted the religious law over its subjects. The Ottoman Empire was always organized around a system of localjurisprudence. Legal administration in the Ottoman Empire was part of a larger scheme of balancing central and local authority.[154] 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 localmillet.[154] The jurisdictional complexity of the Ottoman Empire was aimed to permit the integration of culturally and religiously different groups.[154] The Ottoman system had three court systems: one for Muslims, one for non-Muslims, involving appointed Jews and Christians ruling over their respective religious communities, and the "trade court". The entire system was regulated from above by means of the administrative Kanun, i.e. laws, a system based upon the Turkic Yasa and Töre, which were developed in the pre-Islamic era. The kanun law system, on the other hand, was the secular law of the sultan, and dealt with issues not clearly addressed by the sharia system.
These court categories were not, however, wholly exclusive: for instance, the Islamic courts—which were the Empire's primary courts—could also be used to settle a trade conflict or disputes between litigants of differing religions, and Jews and Christians often went to them to obtain a more forceful ruling on an issue. The Ottoman state tended not to interfere with non-Muslim religious law systems, despite legally having a voice to do so through local governors. The Islamic Sharia law system had been developed from a combination of the Qur'an; the Hadīth, or words of the prophet Muhammad; ijmā', or consensus of the members of the Muslim community; qiyas, a system of analogical reasoning from earlier precedents; and local customs. Both systems were taught at the Empire's law schools, which were in Constantinople and Bursa.
Tanzimat reforms drastically affected the law system. In 1877, the civil law (except family law) was codified in the Mecelle code. Later codifications covered commercial law, penal law and civil procedure.
These court categories were not, however, wholly exclusive: for instance, the Islamic courts—which were the Empire's primary courts—could also be used to settle a trade conflict or disputes between litigants of differing religions, and Jews and Christians often went to them to obtain a more forceful ruling on an issue. The Ottoman state tended not to interfere with non-Muslim religious law systems, despite legally having a voice to do so through local governors. The Islamic Sharia law system had been developed from a combination of the Qur'an; the Hadīth, or words of the prophet Muhammad; ijmā', or consensus of the members of the Muslim community; qiyas, a system of analogical reasoning from earlier precedents; and local customs. Both systems were taught at the Empire's law schools, which were in Constantinople and Bursa.
Tanzimat reforms drastically affected the law system. In 1877, the civil law (except family law) was codified in the Mecelle code. Later codifications covered commercial law, penal law and civil procedure.