From the Pages of the Defter (ص 71)

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From the Pages of the Defter (ص 71)

المحتوى

convenience, delicate matters, or a combination of these factors. ~° Ergene also emphasizes
that there was no prohibition against retrials; litigants could and did take their cases to be
re-heard in other sharia courts or before other judges. He views these comparatively flexible
features of the judicial system as opportunities to privilege certain claims and to attain the
“reversibility of justice”.’** “In short, the court was perhaps not a site of ultimate and
unobjectionable justice and was not always considered to be so by its clients.” “7”
Building on Isik Tamdogan’s study of the value of su/h (amicable agreement) in the
Ottoman courts, ~° | would argue the opposite. Features such as forum shopping and re-
trials indicate that the system aimed for “the most just” justice. First, it should be recalled
that matters of venue and of re-adjudication required the consent and presence in the
courtroom of both parties to the litigation, or legally appointed representatives for them.
Secondly, no mechanism is known to have been in place to enforce court rulings and ensure
their implementation. It can be argued, then, that they were carried out because litigants on
both sides respected the judgment of the court or, more precisely, perhaps, of the judge
presiding over the courtroom.
*° Ibid.; see also the discussion in my article, “Villagers on the Move: Re-thinking Fallahin Rootedness in
Late-Ottoman Palestine”, Jerusalem Quarterly 54 (2013): 56-68.
‘21 Ibid., 108.
"22 Ihid.,105-108. Quotation on 107-108.
123 Isik Tamdogan, “Sulh and the 1g" Century Ottoman Courts of Usktidar and Adana”, Islamic Law and
Society 15 (2008): 55-83.
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هو جزء من

From the Pages of the Defter

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٢٠١٦

المنشئ

Susynne McElrone

مجموعات العناصر

Generated Pages Set

Theses رسائل ماجستير ودكتوراه