Governing property, making the modern state - PSI424

Notes to chapter 7
10 Later in the procès-verbal (BOA.
ŞD.2273/38 document 14, fol. 16a/29) the
finance director Musa Shalhub testifies
concerning the document. He notes that
at the time people had come asking for the
money from the kaimakam himself. After
Da’ud ‘Abbada said that the money had
gone to Salim Bey not himself, Shalhub,
too, stamped the document.
When asked which officials were present
at the drawing up of the document,
Shalhub gave the names of tahrirat katibi
Antun Siyur and treasurer Jurji Qabawat;
when asked who was there, he answered:
‘the Efendis ‘Abd al-Qadir Sharaida,
Muflih al-Zamil, Muhammad Hamud,
Jabr ‘Abd al-Rahman, and Muhammad
Mutlaq; there may have been others but
I don’t remember them. They demanded
their rights, the total sum demanded was
not stated, I didn’t see them individually.’
When asked how they expressed themselves,
he answered: ‘They said: “we want
our emval ve hukuk taken from us unjustly
(bi-gayr-ı hakk)”.’ Da’ud ‘Abbada said to
them that in fact he didn’t take the money,
‘you in fact know the truth’, he said to
them. They responded: ‘we gave the money
to you, so now we are asking for it from
you’. Da’ud ‘Abbada said that he had no
share in the money. When pressed as to
why he stamped the statement concerning
the mutasarrıf, Musa Shalhub recounts
how when the mutasarrıf was in Irbid, he
saw money taken from Muflih al-Zamil.
Lastly, Shalhub states that he was forced to
stamp the statement.
11 BOA.ŞD.2273/38 document 14,
fol. 1, first session dated 15 Kanunuevvel
1295/27 December 1879.
12 An Antiquities Regulation governing
excavations was issued in 1874, see
Shaw and Shaw, History of the Ottoman
Empire and Modern Turkey (1977), vol. 2,
p. 111.
13 BOA.ŞD.2273/38 document 14, fol.
11b/20, dated 29 Kanunuevvel 1295.
14 The first states that (a) the yoklama
scribe came to the village on such and such
264
a date, (b) so many entries were registered
for which a given sum was due in fees,
(c) once the total due was paid in the
district treasury the documents were to be
supplied, and (d) an account of the registration
should be sent to the headquarters
of the liva Hauran (or sometimes, to the
vilayet). This first statement is stamped by
the headman, by members of the village
council, and generally also by the yoklama
scribe. The second basic statement generally
contains four major clauses: (a) the
register was drawn up by the scribe in
cooperation with the knowledgeable
people of the vicinity, (b) the assessment
was fair, (c) the amount payable in tapu
dues was set, and (d) a copy of the register
was to be sent to the sanjak (or vilayet)
registry. This second statement is attested
by the administrative council of the kaza
comprising the scribe (katib-i tahrirat),
the director of finance (mal müdürü),
the nakib ül-eşraf of Hauran, the deputy
(naip) and the kaimakam of ‘Ajlun, and
four civilian members. The stamps bearing
the names of the individuals holding these
posts are affixed to the statement. Slightly
different wordings of the statements can be
seen in the early years of registration.
15 BOA.ŞD.2273/38 document 14, fol.
14a/25. At a later stage in the depositions,
fol. 27a, ‘Abbada repeats the phrase,
noting that most of the people are from
elsewhere, being cultivators from the vicinity:
hakikat-ı hal-i zahir der ki ahalinin
ekserisi yabancı olup bilad-ı harisidendiler.
16 Mikha’il Bahri was an experienced
tapu official. He served in the Damascus
sanjak tapu service as second assistant in
1869: Salname-i Suriye ii (1286AH), p. 59.
17 Mikha’il Bahri’s stamp appears
below the registration of al-Husn but
Yubla’s registration appears to have been
rejected at some level since it was later
done, or redone, by the Special Commission
in 1299AM.
18 BOA.ŞD.2273/38 document 14, fol.
6b/10. Jabr al-‘Abd al-Rahman claims (fol.
8a/13) that he had been sent officially by