Institutionalizing Justice in a Distant Province: Ottoman Judicial Reform in Yemen (1872-1918)

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, History, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2013

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: HÜMEYRA BOSTAN

Danışman: Abdulhamit Kirmizi

Özet:

This study discusses the introduction of a new judicial organization in the Province of Yemen after 1872 with the second Ottoman conquest of the region. It presents the establishment and the abolition of the new Ottoman court system called the nizamiye courts and examines interim formulas produced to increase local people's inclination to the courts. The Ottoman state transformed gradually its legal organization with the Imperial Decree of 1839. A codification of present Islamic principles and an adaptation of Western laws followed the Imperial Edict along with a new system of courts that began to take shape in 1864. Subsequently a new legal organization consolidated by 1879. The state aimed to apply the new judicial organization in all provinces including Yemen after its conquest but it took some time to fully consolidate the new organization. The Ottoman government established nizamiye courts in the provincial center and in most sub-provinces and districts by 1879. Because the Yemenis were unaccustomed to applying to courts, the state reorganized the court system with some modifications. The state decided to abolish the nizamiye courts but sustained the şer'iyye courts in 1889. Subsequently, the government transformed the şer'iyye courts in ways that authorized them to implement nizami law. This complicated and multi-dimensional story of the court organization in Yemen indicates the Ottoman state's commitment to its principle of providing justice to all its subjects. In addition, instead of interpreting the abolition of the nizamiye courts as a failure, this thesis argues that the flexibility of Ottoman practices provided a gradual transformation of the legal system in Yemen that resulted in the re-establishment of the nizamiye courts with the agreement of local leaders. This thesis also demonstrates that in contrast to the common belief, the Ottoman state did not obtain uniform policies and practices while centralizing during the nineteenth century.