From the Pages of the Defter (ص 196)

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From the Pages of the Defter (ص 196)

المحتوى

Once inheritance rights were proven by the string of witnesses who stepped forward,
the judge ruled that the complainants were entitled to their claim of 850 kurus, and Husayn
was ordered to pay Isma‘tl. As recorded in the court record, the proceedings had been
overseen and their validity endorsed (tazkiyya) by the two mukhtars of the neighboring
village of Idhna, al-Shaykh Jabir b. Salame Tamayza and ‘Awdatallah b. Khalil al-Batran.
The Significance of the Lawsuit: Reading between the lines
The court record implies there was no true conflict between Husayn and the other Taffuh
villagers. The matter in question was merely one of demonstrating chains of inheritance
through witness testimony. It is not unreasonable to conclude, therefore, that this was a
dispute of pretense, and that there was an ulterior motive for this case to be brought before
the court. | would argue that the real cause for the proceedings was that the complainants
wanted a document proving the legitimacy of their inheritance claims. With such a
document, inheritors were eligible to obtain tapu certificates for a fraction of the cost they
would otherwise be charged.
According to Article 78 of the Land Code of 7 Ramadan 1274 (21 April 1858), an
individual with hakk-: karar*”° was entitled to obtain a tapu certificate gratis, regardless of
326 Hakk-1 karar (right of decision or permanence) is defined in Article 78 of the 1858 Land Code. It is a
prescriptive right to the land proven through ten years’ uncontested possession. (Ongley, 42.) See also,
“hakk-1 karar” in Hayrettin Gultekin, ed., Osmanlica Tapu Terimleri Sézlugi (Ottoman-language Tapu-
Terminology Dictionary) (Ankara: Tapu ve Kadastro Genel Mudurlugu, 2007).
179

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From the Pages of the Defter

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المنشئ

Susynne McElrone

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