Written Proof Between Capitulations and Ottoman Kadi Courts in the Early Modern Period

Abstract

The introduction of legal reforms in the sixteenth century that gave the Hanafi school its central place in the Ottoman legal system coincided with the arrival of new trade partners from the West, first France and later England and the Dutch Republic. The Ottoman authorities’ own emphasis on the primacy of written proof and the marginalization of oral testimony was also reflected in the privileges granted to these new arrivals from the West. Although many European ambassadors and consuls distrusted “Turkish justice”, the Ottoman legal system’s stability and predictability contributed considerably to creating favourable conditions of trade.