Supervisors info:
Παρασκευάς Κονόρτας, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής Ιστορίας της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας στο τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας του ΕΚΠΑ
Μαρίνος Σαρηγιάννης, Ερευνητής Α', Συντονιστής του τομέα Οθωμανικής Ιστορίας, ΙΤΕ/ΙΜΣ
Βάσω Σειρηνίδου, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Ιστορίας Νέου Ελληνισμού στο τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας του ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The object of this study is to examine the laws regarding the island of Crete during the 17th and 18th century. Specifically, an attempt is being made to recreate an accurate portrayal of the Handakas society and, by extension, of Crete during Ottoman rule but also of the role the religious court held in ottoman society, through the study of all the court codes of Handakas, which have already been processed and translated. This study was based on the summaries of judicial settlements, which have been issued up until 2021, the same year this study was completed.
The developing strategies of the respected parties, whose purpose is influencing the judges’ decisions and serving their own interests, is a subject worth analyzing to better understand the relationships between the citizens and the main institution of the administration of justice, the kadi-court. In attempting to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the judicial work in the context of the maintenance of a social balance, one of the Ottoman administrations goals, the main concerns which are raised are related to the very function of the muslim courts in the Ottoman society, as in the occasion of the island of Crete. Therefore, issues such as the role of compromising in the legal process and the validity of the oral testimony, which was an integral part of the legal process, are being studied in accordance with its effectiveness of the judicial process. Simultaneously, the uses of the Muslim courts are another topic of this study. This raises the question: was the search for justice always the reason a citizen resorted to the religious court or did the procedures that these courts followed; help lay the way for personal interests?
This study is divided into two parts. In the first part an attempt is made in creating the theoretical background of the justice system, which was based almost exclusively on bibliographic research. The sources of Ottoman law, the position of the kadi-court in the process of the administration of justice, the ecclesiastical and community courts, which operated within the framework of legal pluralism, which in turn prevailed in the Ottoman state, and the organization of the judicial system in Crete are topics covered in the chapters of this section. In the second part, the presentation of the documents under study plays a central role, collecting data to draw conclusions on the strategies of the parties in the courtroom. Before this, however, reference is made to the procedural rules of the Ottoman kadi-courts, with the aim of better understanding the process of administering justice, as provided by the Islamic Holy Law. In the third and final chapter of the second part, an attempt is made in approaching the concerns, which have been created, with the intent of reaching a conclusion regarding the function of the kadi-court in Ottoman society. Lastly, the study covers a total of five phases: the years 1661-1665, i.e., before the tradition of Handaka, and then the periods of 1669-1675, 1683-1686, 1688-1689 and 1750-1767. The division into 5 periods is based on the timelines of 3396 documents that have been studied.
Keywords:
Justice, Ottoman Empire, Crete, Kadı-court, Law, Kadı-court documents, Kadı, Kadı-court Codes, Handakas, Convert to Islam, Court, Trial, Ottomans, Justice system, Patriarchate, Muslim, Christian, Orthodox. Islamic holy law
