Governing property, making the modern state - PSI424

lands, reform of taxation, a building code,
instructions for the offices of defterdar and
kaimakam, and the penal law.
36 See issues 331 and 332, 7.Ca and
14.Ca.1263, 24 and 31 April 1847, p. 1; the
sultanic decree and laws were published
in issue 402, 10.Ra.1265, 6 March 1849.
See Karakoç: Tahşiyeli Kavanin, vol. 1,
pp. 130–60.
37 Presumably greater detail concerning
the drafting of this law should be
found in the BOA Meclis-i Vala-yı Ahkamı
Adliye series. In 2001 this series was
closed to researchers.
38 Takvim-i Vakayi, no. 331, p. 1:
‘Evlad-ı inasın dahi hakk-ı veraset-i araziye
duhulü.’ Note that the term veraset, inheritance
as in mülk land, is here used even
though technically it is a right to intikal
that is at issue.
39 Ibid. ‘Eğerçe taife-i nisa bilfiil erbabı
ziraatten değil iseler de ziraat familyası
teşkil edebilecekleri ve o cihetle kendilerine
müntakil olacak araziyi imar eyleyecekleri
bedihi olmak.’
40 Ibid. ‘Hakk-ı tassaruf-ı araziden
hisseyab olmaları usul-ı melikiyete ve
kaide-i hakkaniyete muvafık düşeceğinden
mecmuat-ı madelet ve merhamet olan asr-ı
nasfet hasr-ı hazret-i mülükanenin asar-ı
celile ve cemilesinden.’
41 Takvim-i Vakayi, no. 403.
42 The first is al-Husaini, Majmu‘a,
ZAL.6023, fols 53b–171. This opens with
the praise of the sultan found at the end
of the printed version, gives the text of
the law and summarizes the ancillary
questions. The second is an addition at
ZAL.5651, fol. 282a, penned into the
fetwa collection of al-Sayyid al-Husaini
al-Muradi (d. 1774–75) copying the order
sent from the sheikh-ul-Islam to the mufti
of Damascus enjoining him to respect the
terms of the new sultanic kanun in all
fetwas and judgments. This is both in Arabic
and Turkish, dated early Rebiyülevvel
1264, February 1848.
43 See Karakoç: Tahşiyeli Kavanin, vol.
1, p. 124.
255
44 The latter is dated by Karakoç to
5.C.1263, 22 May 1847.
45 The contents of the Code, divided
into an introduction and two books, are
as follows: Introduction clauses 1–7, I. On
miri land 1. tasarruf of miri lands 8–35,
2. ferağ of miri lands 36–53, 3. intikal of
miri lands 54–8, 4. mahlulat of miri lands
59–90; and II. On metruke and mevat
lands 1. metruka 91–102, 2. mevat 103–5,
3. further issues 106–32.
46 The topic of mevat lands also
occurs in the book on the alienation of
mubah/common property, Mecelle, Book
X, Chapter 4, Section 5.
47 Clause 8 of the Land Code, see
Düstur, vol. 1, p. 167.
48 Ibid. articles 93 and 94.
49 Ibid. articles 91, 92, 97, 98 and 101.
50 Ibid. article 15.
51 The relevant clauses of the Code are
116–19. For the debate concerning whether
the interests of traders and money-lenders
are sufficiently protected by this mechanism,
see BOA. Nizamat 40/38, pages
53–5. Compare Chapter 3, p. 38, for earlier
legal recognition of such practices.
52 This was pronounced 9.N.1274, 9
April 1858 and published a month later in
the official gazette Takvim-i Vakayi 562;
see Karakoç, Tahşiyeli Kavanin, pp. 166–7.
53 BOA.Nizamat, 40/38, pp. 54–5,
Zilhicce 1276.
54 BOA.Nizamat, 40/38, p. 54,
21.Ra.1277. This provision will be maintained
in the law of 1871 concerning sale
of real property for debt.
55 An irade was issued 24.Ca.1277,
7 January 1861 upholding the ban on
forced sale for private debt, lest people be
stripped of their means of livelihood. It
judged, nevertheless, that miri land could
be sold to cover tax arrears. This was followed
nine months later by a further irade
of 24.Ra.1278, 29 September 1861 that
permitted miri land to be put up for sale
for tax arrears but excluded personal debt
to a tax farmer (mültezim) and protected
from sale the house of a cultivator (large
Notes to chapter 4