scholarly journals Kadi Courts in the Ottoman Balkans and Christians in 18th Century (According to the Sofia Documents)

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 137-152
Author(s):  
A. A. Leontieva

The article deals with the status of Christian population of Sofia under the Ottoman rule and legal pluralism. The aim of the investigation is to analyze the degree of integration of Christians to the Ottoman system of law and to understand the reasons of Christian’s access to the Shari‘a courts. The legal status of Christians in the Ottoman Empire was defined by the so-called Millet system. The Orthodoxies in Ottoman Empire had three ways of resolving their disputes: they could turn to the Episcopal court, the communal court or the Ottoman court, which made a decision according to Shari‘a and Kanun. As it could be argued, on the contrary to popular belief, Christian’s going to Shari‘a courts were not rare. They had the opportunity to choose what kind of court to prefer for resolving their personal and family disputes.

Slovene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-474
Author(s):  
Dmitry I. Polyvyannyy

[Rev. of: Mutafova Krasimira, Kalitsin Maria, Andreev Stefan, The Orthodox Structures in the Balkans during the 17th–18th Century according to Documents from the Ottoman Archives in Istanbul, Veliko Tarnovo: Abagar, 2019. 672 p.] More than two hundred documents from the “Bishops’ files” (Piskopos Kalemi) Collection at Istanbul Ottoman Archives at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic (Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivleri), recently published for the first time by Bulgarian scholars of Ottoman Studies Krassimira Mutafova, Maria Kalitsin and Stefan Andreev, reveal multifaceted practices of Orthodox Balkan church institutions’ interactions with the Ottoman authorities from 1684 to 1788. The review deals with the typology of the published documents and the information they contain regarding the fiscal activities of the patriarchy of Constantinople and the patriarchies of Ohrid and Peć (which were incorporated into the Constantinople patriarchy in 1757–1758) towards their Orthodox flock in the Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The accent is made towards conflicts between the church institutions and the Christian population, as well as contradictions within the higher Orthodox clergy. The importance of personal information on some hierarchs and of data concerning territories and centers of the dioceses is underlined. The author concludes that the reviewed publication provides abundant material for research on the status and functions of the Orthodox hierarchy in the administrative system of the Ottoman Empire in the 17th and 18th centuries.


2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-237
Author(s):  
Maurits van den Boogert

AbstractIn the Western sources, the Ottoman legal system is often portrayed as unreliable and incidents of Europeans or Ottoman protégés of Western embassies and consulates who claimed to have been maltreated abound. These reports strengthened the common notion in Europe that Ottoman government officials were rapacious and corrupt. The article challenges these views by analyzing two incidents from 18th-century Aleppo, which shed light not only on the dynamics of Ottoman-European relations on the ground, but also on the status of non-Muslim elites in the Ottoman Empire.


Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6 (104)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Kozub

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of diplomatic ceremonial in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century. Special attention is paid to such elements of the protocol as the meeting of foreign representatives, the presentation of gifts, the meal, the location of officials during the reception, and some other features. The authors analyze the notes and reports of Russian diplomats who visited the receptions of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the Grand Vizier. Thanks to these sources, it was possible to learn the details of the ceremony and note the fact that Russian diplomats tried to describe what was happening at the receptions in such a way as to emphasize a special attitude towards themselves. In confirmation of this, the authors provide excerpts from preserved sources. In addition, the article draws attention to the fact that many elements of the protocol depended on the status of foreign representatives. In the Ottoman Empire, hierarchy played a significant role. The envoy could not be treated with the same dishware as the ambassador, and the ambassador, in turn, could not be treated with the same dishware as the Grand Vizier. The conclusion drawn in this article is that some elements of the diplomatic ceremonial could change depending on the representatives of which state came to the audience in the Ottoman Empire. Russian ambassadors and envoys were treated more hospitably than representatives of other states because of the Russian Empire's victories in the two Russo-Turkish wars. At receptions with Russian diplomats, there were changes in the protocol by decree of the Ottoman Sultan, in order to demonstrate respect not only for Russian officials, but also for the state as a whole.


2020 ◽  
pp. 386-400
Author(s):  
V. Yu. Apryshchenko ◽  
N. A. Lagoshina

The expansion of Great Britain in the 18th century greatly strengthened its influence both on the European continent and throughout the world. The nearby existence of Catholic Ireland, which had developed trade and socio-political ties with European countries, threatened the national security of Great Britain and determined the religious orientation of restrictive politics. In the first half of the 18th century, political, economic and religious struggles both within Ireland and between the British and Irish led to the fact that Ireland actually turned into an English colony. There are still disputes among foreign scholars about the status of Ireland in the 18th century, since the powers of the parliament in Dublin were limited, and most of the country's population did not have civil and political rights. Nevertheless, in the 1760s, the Irish parliament implemented a number of bills in the field of social policy and local self-government, which indicates the significant independence of this legislative body. The legal status of the Irish state in the 18th century, its powers are compared with some widespread definitions of the term state are examined in the article.


2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 661-682
Author(s):  
Miroslav Pavlovic

The Transitional period in the Ottoman Empire (17th-18th century) brought about changes in the organization of government that were felt deeply at the imperial periphery. The process of decentralization in the Ottoman Balkans was most prominent during the 18th century. Traditional roles of political and social agents in towns became ever more unstable and the shifts of ruling elites were ever more pronounced. The ruling, Muslim elite had gradually joined together by forming political alliances in order to gain influence and money. Political struggles became constant. Belonging to the elite through acquiring the status of asker - either by enlisting into janissaries or by getting a timar and the status of spahi - did not guarantee a political influence or wealth. The new elite got their positions thanks to the political connections with either local or central government. The financial power was a factor that mostly determined a person?s status in the 18th century, and it did not depend on the legitimacy of economic undertakings. The capital was accumulated through trade, tax farming and tax collecting. The close relations with the representatives of government secured path towards an elite status. The rise of the new local governing elite and the ways of its social and political promotion were not identical processes even in the neighboring provinces. The role of m?tesellim, voyvoda or kapudan, depended on the character of the Ottoman administration in the province (sanjak), which is why case studies contribute to the overall knowledge about the organization of Ottoman local authorities.


Author(s):  
Vrinda Narain

Contemporary democracies have emphasized the recognition of religious and cultural diversity through policies of multiculturalism that recognize minority rights. In this regard, the status of Muslim women in a democracy with multiple legal systems, such as India, is representative of these new forms of democratic politics. While the Indian constitution guarantees equality to all citizens in the public sphere, in the private sphere of the family, the state enforces explicitly discriminatory personal laws as a demonstration of its commitment to minority rights, posing serious challenges for Muslim women’s equality. In this context, evaluating the success of legal pluralism through the implementation of Muslim personal law cannot ignore the negative impact of this understanding of legal pluralism on gender equality. Against this backdrop, this chapter examines how notions of secularism, religious freedom, and the protection of minority rights mediate the legal status of Muslim women in India.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Li’izza Diana Manzil

One sign of the rapidly growing world of medical science is its success in making one discovery about Deoxrybo Nucleid Acid (DNA). Islam does not prohibit the practice of DNA identification because it can be used in determining the legal status of relative relationships and related marital prohibitions among families because of the similarity of DNA genes between parents and their children. In Islam marriage prohibition can also occur between brothers and sisters. DNA identification can be done between siblings as a result of the presence of gene elements in breast milk. In addition, breast milk can also develop bone and grow meat if breastfeeding at least five times suction. But the results of DNA tests conducted between siblings cannot be more accurate if done to find relationships of parents and children. From this it clearly proves that Islamic medicine has an urgent value to Islamic law. This can be seen from one of its axiology in determining the status of brotherhood.


Author(s):  
Janusz Adam Frykowski

SUMMARYNon-city starosty of Tyszowce was located in the province of Belz and received the status of royal land in 1462. Its territory included the town of Tyszowce and villages: Mikulin, Perespa, Klatwy and Przewale. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the starosty suffered from a significant increase of various negative phenomena. The crown lands had bitterly tasted devastating fires, epidemics, contributions, requisitions, robberies and field devastations. All these disasters were caused mainly by war and military activities. Marches of soldiers and quartering of troops greatly contributed to the situation and were usually associated with the need of maintaining the soldiers. The requisitions of food, alcohol, cattle, horses and poultry were particularly burdensome for the people. The greatest economic devastation as regards the resources of the starosty and its people was caused by monetary contributions, usually several times higher than the financial capacity of the town and its inhabitants. This work focuses on damages to the starosty caused by the royal cavalry. According to the literature, it is clear that the behavior of the troops in Tyszowce Starosty was not different from the behavior of soldiers in other areas of Poland. It must be admitted that the reprehensible behavior of the army was influenced by many conditions, from the recruitment of people from backgrounds often involving conflict with law, as well as foreigners, to the accommodation system under which the soldiers were forced to supply themselves “on their own.”


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mbuzeni Mathenjwa

The history of local government in South Africa dates back to a time during the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. With regard to the status of local government, the Union of South Africa Act placed local government under the jurisdiction of the provinces. The status of local government was not changed by the formation of the Republic of South Africa in 1961 because local government was placed under the further jurisdiction of the provinces. Local government was enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa arguably for the first time in 1993. Under the interim Constitution local government was rendered autonomous and empowered to regulate its affairs. Local government was further enshrined in the final Constitution of 1996, which commenced on 4 February 1997. The Constitution refers to local government together with the national and provincial governments as spheres of government which are distinctive, interdependent and interrelated. This article discusses the autonomy of local government under the 1996 Constitution. This it does by analysing case law on the evolution of the status of local government. The discussion on the powers and functions of local government explains the scheme by which government powers are allocated, where the 1996 Constitution distributes powers to the different spheres of government. Finally, a conclusion is drawn on the legal status of local government within the new constitutional dispensation.


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