Constituting one of the biggest legal corpus of the early modern Islamic world with their 10,000 volume materials, Istanbul Sharia Court Registers contain legal and administrative documents of twenty-six different courts, which operated in Istanbul from the fifteenth century onwards. These registers are important for protecting and documenting legal rights as well as for being a resource for historical, social and economic studies.
A sharia register can be defined as “a book which has the records of any document created as a result of the legal cases heard by kqadis (Islamic judge) as well as administrative and legal activities of qadis.” These books are called as kadı sicili (kqadi register), kadı divanı (diwan of kqadi), sicillat-ı şer‘iyye (legal registers), or most commonly şer‘iye sicili (legal register).
It is not known when the practice of keeping court registers started or how it was institutionalized in the Ottoman Empire. It might have started in conjunction with the establishment of the institution of kadılık (judgeship). Or, it is possible that the court registers appeared at a later date due to an increase in the court operations and central government’s demands. The oldest available registers are those of the kadılık of Bursa from the era of Mehmed the Conqueror (1432–1481). The oldest of these registers dates back to 860 AH (1455/56).1 The registers from the previous eras were probably burned or disappeared during the invasions of Bursa by Timur and the Karamanids.2
The number of Istanbul registers that are remarkable for their early date and richness of contents is higher than the total number of all other court registers, available in Turkey, from the Ottoman period. Istanbul court registers, including those of the courts of bilad-ı selase (lit. the three towns, i.e. Eyüp, Üsküdar and Galata) and those of associated substitute judges as well as those of the kazaskerlik (chief judge) of Rumelia and Anatolia and of the kassam (inheritance judge) and waqf courts, reach the total number of 10,000.
The court of kısmet-i askeriye (inheritance court for people with the military status) is the one with the highest number of registers among the Istanbul courts. It has about 2,144 registers, the oldest and newest of which are from 1000 AH (1591/92) and 1342 AH (1923/24) respectively.
The court of Üsküdar has one of the most organized collections among the Istanbul court registers. The registers created as a result of the activities of this court form an entire corpus revealing the richness of the Üsküdar’s four-hundred-year history within the periods between the Sultan Selim I era and the establishment of the Turkish Republic. The first of the Üsküdar registers was kept in 919 AH (1513/14), and the year of the last register is 1342 AH (1923/24). The number of available registers of the court of Üsküdar is 1,074.
It was at the end of the nineteenth century when an attempt was made to gather the registers, that had been scattered in the mosques and madrasas in Istanbul for centuries. In line with this attempt, the Şer‘iye Sicilleri Arşivi (Archives of Sharia Court Registers) was founded within a half-century after the Hazine-i Evrak (Treasury of Documents) was established in the Ottoman Empire. Today, all of the Istanbul court registers are stored in the Şer‘iye Sicilleri Arşivi and the Meşihat Arşivi (Archive of the Office of the Şeyhülislam) at the Office of the Müfti of Istanbul.
Reflecting the judicial activities of the courts, the court registers are significant to explain the judicial structure and to observe the Islamic law in practice in the Ottoman Empire during four centuries from the sixteenth to the twentıieth century. Examining the court registers, legal historians are able to identify the applied laws and regulations in the Empire, that is, various forms of sharia and customary law.3
Court registers contain documents which shed light on the economic and commercial life of the era in which the registers were kept. For example, they include information about what was produced, sold, exported or imported as well as information about distribution of wealth and goods, trade, assets, debts, exchanges, credits, comissioningcommissioning and guarantees, circulating currencies in a region. They also provide information about bankruptcy cases and the problems of the commercial life.4
Istanbul court registers are one of the most frequently used resources in historical researches due to their rich content. From the beginning of the twentieth century onwards, many studies used these registers as a resource. Osman Nuri Ergin completed Mecelle-i Umur-ı Belediye (The Book of the Municipality Affairs), a leading study using these resources. It is observed that Mecelle-i Umur-ı Belediyye substantially relied on the court registers. Mostly including transcriptions of original documents, Mecelle-i Umur-ı Belediyye became the fundamental resource for studies on the Ottoman local administration.5
Since the 1960s, the growing interest in registers has initiated the process of cataloging for them. A catalogue, including information about 9,883 registers of Istanbul registers, which are preserved in the Şer‘iye Sicilleri Arşivi of the Office of Müfti of Istanbul, was published.6 The list of around 900 register files, which are housed in the Library of the Office of Müfti of Istanbul, was published in the catalogue, entitled Şeyhülislamlık (Bab-ı Meşihat) Arşivi Defter Kataloğu (The Book Catalogue of the Office of Shaikh al-lslam Archives).7
As the court registers are the most fundamental resources for the history of Istanbul, attempts were made to publish them partially or entirely. The comprehensive study is the project of İstanbul Kadı Sicilleri/İstanbul Mahkeme Defterleri (Istanbul Sharia Court Registers), for which the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency and the Center for Islamic Studies (ISAM) collaborated. It published some of the Istanbul court registers in 40 volumes.8 As a part of the project of İstanbul Kadı Sicilleri/İstanbul Mahkeme Defterleri, which was carried out by ISAM, the principal of displaying samples from the first era in these books was adopted, and the books from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were identified in four regions. It was aimed to shed light on a century in these regions by selecting one book from approximately each decade. Selected forty books were transliterated into Latin script. The originals were reproduced in same volume to enable the comparison.
The Istanbul Kadi Registers project designed by ISAM was primarily to have 10 volumes. Launched in 2008 by ISAM, this project was completed in 2012 and published as a 40 volume book. With a total page number of 24,000, this work enables one to have access to more than 40,000 documents of Istanbul courts. For the project, 40 registers were selected from those of Istanbul and bilad-ı selase courts and published.9 The Istanbul Court Registers became available for online access on January 25, 2014 (http://www.kadisicilleri.org/). Within the first 95 days after its initiation date (January 25, 2014–May 1, 2014), 32,695 visitors have made 95,500 searches, printed 37,500 pages of pdf files and 9,000 pages have been viewed, and more than 9, 300 volumes have been downloaded.
The following are the registers which were published as a part of the project where M. Akif Aydın was the Project manager, Coşkun Yılmaz was the editor, and M. Akif Aydın, İdris Bostan, Feridun M. Emecen, İsmail Erunsal, Mehmet İpşirli and Mustafa Oğuz were the members of the science board:
Istanbul Kadi Registers Eyüb Court (Havass-ı Refia) the Register Numbered 49 (AH 1054/1644 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Galata Court the Register Numbered 5 (AH 983-984/1575-1576 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Galata Court the Register Numbered 32 (AH 1015-1016/1606-1607 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Galata Court the Register Numbered 7 (AH 985-986/1577-1578 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Galata Court the Register Numbered 20 (AH 1005-1007/1596-1599 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Balat Court the Register Numbered 2 (AH 970-971/1563 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Bab Court the Register Numbered 46 (AH 1096-1097/1685-1686 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Galata Court the Register Numbered 65 (AH 1051-1053/1641-1644 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Üsküdar Court the Register Numbered 1 (AH 919-927 /1513-1521 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Eyüb Court (Havass-ı Refia) the Register Numbered 61 (AH 1065- 1066/1655 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Eyüb Court (Havass-ı Refia) the Register Numbered 3 (AH 993-995/M. 1585-1587 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Hasköy Court the Register Numbered 5 (AH 1020-1053/1612-1643 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Üsküdar Court the Register Numbered 5 (AH 930-936 / 1524-1530 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Rumeli Sadareti Court the Register Numbered 21 (AH 1002-1003/1594-1595 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Istanbul Court the Register Numbered 12 (AH 1073-1074/ 1663-1664 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Galata Court the Register Numbered 37 (AH 1022-1024/1613-1615 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Üsküdar Court the Register Numbered 14 (AH 953-955/ 1546-1549 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Üsküdar Court the Register Numbered 17 (AH 956-963/ 1549-1556 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Bab Court the Register Numbered 3 (AH 1077 /1666 – 1667 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Üsküdar Court the Register Numbered 26 (AH 970-971 / 1562-1563 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Üsküdar Court the Register Numbered 51 (AH 987-988/ 1579-1580 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Üsküdar Court the Register Numbered 84 (AH 999-1000/ 1590-1591 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Üsküdar Court the Register Numbered 2 (AH 924-927 / 1518-1521 CE)
Istanbul Kadi Registers Galata Court the Register Numbered 15 (AH 981-1000/ 1573-1591 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Galata Court the Register Numbered 46 (AH 1024-1029/ 1615-1620 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Eyüb Court (Havass-ı Refia) the Register Numbered 37 (AH 1047/ 1637-1638 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Istanbul Court the Register Numbered 18 (AH 1086-1087/ 1675-1676 CE),
Karaca, Yılmaz, Rasim Erol (haz.), Istanbul Kadi Registers Eyüb Court (Havass-ı Refia) the Register Numbered 19 (AH 1028-1030/1619-1620 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Istanbul Court the Register Numbered 3 (AH1027/ 1618 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Üsküdar Court 56 (AH 990-991/ 1582-1583 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Eyüb Court (Havass-ı Refia) the Register Numbered 74 (AH 1072-1073/ 1661-1662 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Bab Court the Register Numbered 54 (AH 1102/ 1691 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Eyüb Court (Havass-ı Refia) the Register Numbered 82 (AH 1081/ 1670-1671 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Hasköy Court the Register Numbered 10 (AH 1085-1090/ 1674-1679 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Eyüb Court (Havass-ı Refia) the Register Numbered 90 (AH 1090-1091/ 1679-1680 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Rumeli Sadareti Court the Register Numbered 80 (AH 1057-1059/ 1647-1649 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Rumeli Sadareti Court the Register Numbered 56 (AH 1042-1043/ 1633 CE),
Istanbul Kadi Registers Istanbul Court the Register Numbered 24 (AH 1138-1151/ 1726-1738 CE)
Istanbul Kadi Registers Galata Court the Register Numbered 90 (AH 1073-1074/ 1663 CE)
Istanbul Kadi Registers Üsküdar Court the Register Numbered 9 (AH 940-942 / 1534-1536 CE)
Apart from these, the Ma-i leziz registers of the court of Eyüp were published as İstanbul Şer’iyye Sicilleri Ma-i Leziz Defterleri (Istanbul Şer’iyye Registers Ma-i Leziz Registers) by Istanbul Research Center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.10 Moreover, Sabancı University issued the register numbered 121 of the court of Istanbul as the first book of a joint project conducted with Packard Humanities Institute.11
FOOTNOTES
1 Halil İnalcık, “Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun Kuruluş ve İnkişafı Devrinde Türkiye’nin İktisadi Vaziyeti Üzerinde Bir Tetkik Münasebetiyle,” TTK Belleten, 1951, vol. 15, no. 6, p. 636.
2 İnalcık, “Türkiye’nin İktisadi Vaziyeti”, p. 636; Halil İnalcık, “Osmanlı İdare, Sosyal ve Ekonomik Tarihiyle İlgili Belgeler: Bursa Kadı Sicillerinden Seçmeler I,” TTK Belgeler, 1980-81, vol. 10, no. 14, pp. 1-91.
3 M. Akif Aydın, Kadı Sicillerinde İstanbul: XVI. ve XVII. Yüzyıl, Istanbul: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi (İSAM), 2010; Murat Şen, “Osmanlı Hukukunun Yapısı”, Osmanlı, edited by Güler Eren, Ankara: Yeni Türkiye Yayınları, 1999, vol. 4, p. 324; Münir Atalar, “Şer‘iye Mahkemelerine Dair Kısa Bir Tarihçe”, AÜ İlâhiyat Fakültesi İslâm İlimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, 1980, vol. 4, pp. 312-313.
4 Dursun Kaya, “Millî Kütüphane Şer‘iyye Sicilleri Toplu Kataloğu Projesi Çalışmaları”, Milli Kütüphaneye Armağan, Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı, 1999, pp. 160-161.
5 Osman Nuri Ergin, Mecelle-i Umur-ı Belediyye, Istanbul: Matbaa-i Osmaniye, 1338/1922.
6 Ahmet Akgündüz, Şeri‘iye Sicilleri: Mahiyeti, Toplu Katalogu ve Seçme Hükümler, II vol., Istanbul: Türk Dünyası Araştırmaları Vakfı, 1988.
7 İsmail Kurt, Bilgin Aydınand İlhami Yurdakul, Şeyhülislamlık (Bab-ı Meşihat) Arşivi Defter Kataloğu, Istanbul: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi (İSAM), 2006.
8 For information on the project see Aydın, Kadı Sicillerinde İstanbul; Mustafa Birol Ülker, “İstanbul Kadı Sicilleri Projesi’nin İlk Eseri Yayımlandı”, Toplumsal Tarih, 2009, no. 182, p. 12.
9 For the bibliographic information of the registers, see Cemal Toksoy and Yunus Uğur, “A Selection of Istanbul Bibliography” in the last volume of this work.
10 XI vol., Istanbul: İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi İstanbul Araştırmaları Merkezi İstanbul Su ve Kanalizasyon İdaresi Genel Müdürlüğü, 1998-2001.
11 İstanbul Mahkemesi 121 Numaralı Şeriyye Sicili Tarih: 1231-1232/1816-1817, ed.ited by Nejdet Ertuğ, Istanbul: Sabancı Üniversitesi, 2006.
