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5 Tanzimat and “Mecelle” 111

land law was accepted in 1858²⁵. The exclusion of the possession of the subsistence (dirlik) system was given as the most important reason to prepare the new codę. The new law compiled the previous regulations in a western method. The cooperation of the Islamie religious leader (§eyhulislam) was sought in preparation of the reforms in order to keep them in harmony with the Islamie law²⁶.

The new land codę replaced all the mediators (miiltezim, muhassil etc.) between the state and citizens. State officers were appointed in their places. The previous savings bonds distributed by the mediators were substituted by the new real estate deeds provided by the state²⁷. On the other hand, the codę continued its dual naturę by preserving the differences between the Islamie and the traditional characteristics of real estate matters. Therefore, it did not become a uniąuely applicable codę. This codę passed through two progressions in 1867 and 1910. Today there is an ongoing debate over the validity of these codes: both the mere existence and their possible applicability continue to pose fundamental ąuestions²⁸.

Mecelle

With the positive results.from the implementation of Tanzimat, it became elear that tliere was a necessity to reform civil law as well. Hence “Mecelle”, without ąuestion, was the most important of all Sfforts to adjudicate the civil codes during this period. The president of the Mecelle commission, Ahmet Cevdet Pa$a, being a lawyer, historian, philosopher and a statesman was the main figurę in the preparation of this documeni. He drscribed the legał conditions and foreign reactions as follows: “Morę and morę Europeans were coming to the Ottoman land. Especially during the Crimean War these relations inereased. It soon became obvious that the one court in Istanbul was insufficient to meet the inereased demand for legał settlement in the commercial field. Foreigners did not want to attend the Islamie law courts, sińce the witnessing of non-muslims against muslims, and foreign non-muslims against native Ottoman non-muslims were not accepted by the Islamie court. The Europeans also opposed being judged by the Islamie law. The French were reąuesting an explanation about the Ottoman law in order to inform their own citizens”²⁹.

The state authorities were in search for a solution to the above mentioned problem. Prime Minister (Sadrazam) Ali Pa$a in 1867 proposed to the Sułtan that “As the main complaints are about our courts, we have to follow the translation of the French civil codę as done in Egypt; the mixed cases could be treated with this

²⁵Dustur, (Birinci tertip), Vol.I, p.165.

²⁶    Baikan, “Turk Toprak Hukuku Tarihinde Tanzimat ve 1274-1858 Tarihli Arazi Kanunnamesi”, p. 371.

²⁷    Cin, pp. 22-23.

²⁸    Cin, pp. 478-496.

²⁵ Cevdet Pa§a, Tezakir, Vol.VlII, Prepared for publication: Cavit Baysun, Ankara, 1953, pp. 62-63.