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114 Ómer Turan 8

of an introduction and sixteen volumes. Each volume was approved by the Sułtan before it was permitted to be applied. The total number of articles was 1851.

Mecelle was the greatest legislative movement after Tanzimat⁴⁴. The most criticized aspect of Mecelle was the absence of individualistic, family and inheri tance codes, which are an important part of civil law. There were varying interpretations on the absence of these codes. According to Enver Ziya Karał⁴⁵, Mecelle was mainly composed to be used in mixed (Nizamiye) courts. These courts dealt with cases betweenmuslims and non-muslims. The Islamie courts took care of the absent laws of Mecelle for muslim individuals, whereas non-muslims were treated in their own traditional and religious courts.

Ebu’l Ula Mardin⁴⁶ commented that the absent sections in Mecelle were to be replaced later on as additional volumes. It was decided to continue in order to complete the senes but the commission was abolished before they had the opportunity to do so. Ziyaeddin Fahri Findikoglu⁴⁷ had another point of view. He pointed out that the growth of economic relations with Europę required that changes be madę, especially in the area of commerce. Therefore, the economic changes reąuired a legał reformulation by Mecelle. Consequently, the Mecelle was created to meet the need for a new legał framework in the field of economics. There was not much basie change in the family structure in the Ottoman Empire, so a new legał system was not necessary in this field.

Mecelle depended on Islamie canon law (fikih) and was based on the Hanefi school. It was written by considering the decisions of the Hanefi Fikih Imams. Due to the imposing pressures of the French ambassador to accept the French Civil Codę, and attacks of Islamie conservatives on Cevdet Pa$a, Mecelle was only rudimentarily successful.

Ifthe Commission had been allowed to work under less stressful conditions, as they had done at the beginning, it is probable that its results would have been morę extensive, using different Islamie sects and western ideas⁴⁸. Mecelle was the work of a commission, but the failure of the commission in the absence of A.Cevdet Pa$a clearly demonstrated his indmdual influence in the creation of Mecelle. Despite the conflicts within the commission, Mecelle was thebest work of A.Cevdet Pa$a. He was aware of the responsibility and commented that, twice in history, law was created in Istanbul, once by the Romans, and the second time, in conjunction with Mecelle⁴⁹.

Starting ffom 1869, the first issue of the first book of Mecelle became the legał order in the Ottoman provinces of Egypt, Arabia, Iraą, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and the Balkans as well as Anatolia. During the years of following Bulgarian independence, Mecelle was also translated and used as the basis for Bulgarian law⁵⁰. Mecelle was translated into Arabie and Russian after it was

⁴⁴    Veldet, p. 190.

⁴⁵    Karał, Vol.VII,p.l73.

⁴⁶    Mardin, p.172.

⁴⁷    Ziyaeddin Fahri Findikoglu, “Aile Hukukumuzun Tedvini Meselesi” in Ebu 7 Ula Mardin'e Anriagariy Istanbul, 1944, p.690.

⁴⁸    Mardin, pp.174-177.

⁴⁹    Cevdet Pa$a, Vol.VII, p.45.

⁵⁰Mardin, pp.174-177.