{"title":"Inventing the Status Quo: Ottoman Land-Law during the Palestine Mandate, 1917–1936","authors":"Martin Bunton","doi":"10.1080/07075332.1999.9640851","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"British tions into their management of Palestine's land regime shed light on important though largely neglected features of colonial rule in the Middle East between the World Wars. Although laws and legal procedures played an integral part in the British establishment of a new political and economic order in Palestine, their role has yet to be studied in its historical context. The literature on Palestine is predisposed to view the role played by Ottoman land-law under British rule as axiomatic: it followed naturally from the imposition of the British pattern of indirect rule and, more specifically, from the order-in-council of September 1922 which set out the composition and organization of the government of Palestine. Such presumptions are helped by the prevailing conception of Ottoman land-law as codified. But historians must not take at face value the picture drawn by British apologists at the time who, like the 1937 Peel Commission report, complained that ;the Ottoman Land Code has been retained, with all the difficulties involved in its various forms of ownership and tenure of land; several new laws have been passed to amend it, but it remains in essence the same complicated system, one which is not calculated to promote close settlement and intensive cultivation. Even with the amendments which it has been found possible to introduce, it cannot be deemed to be a satisfactory system in these respects.'1 In attributing the land-law in force during the mandate to the written Ottoman codes dating from 1858, British officials often wished to characterize it as bewildering and antiquated, a barrier to modernization and progress. Missing from the literature is an attempt to problematize and contextual ize the Ottoman law in force during the mandate. In fact, Ottoman law in mandatory Palestine should not be studied as though it were a detached arbiter with fixed rules waiting to be administered by colonial officials. The historical study of land-law is better served by recognizing it as","PeriodicalId":46534,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL HISTORY REVIEW","volume":"21 1","pages":"28-56"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"1999-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/07075332.1999.9640851","citationCount":"18","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"INTERNATIONAL HISTORY REVIEW","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.1999.9640851","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 18
Abstract
British tions into their management of Palestine's land regime shed light on important though largely neglected features of colonial rule in the Middle East between the World Wars. Although laws and legal procedures played an integral part in the British establishment of a new political and economic order in Palestine, their role has yet to be studied in its historical context. The literature on Palestine is predisposed to view the role played by Ottoman land-law under British rule as axiomatic: it followed naturally from the imposition of the British pattern of indirect rule and, more specifically, from the order-in-council of September 1922 which set out the composition and organization of the government of Palestine. Such presumptions are helped by the prevailing conception of Ottoman land-law as codified. But historians must not take at face value the picture drawn by British apologists at the time who, like the 1937 Peel Commission report, complained that ;the Ottoman Land Code has been retained, with all the difficulties involved in its various forms of ownership and tenure of land; several new laws have been passed to amend it, but it remains in essence the same complicated system, one which is not calculated to promote close settlement and intensive cultivation. Even with the amendments which it has been found possible to introduce, it cannot be deemed to be a satisfactory system in these respects.'1 In attributing the land-law in force during the mandate to the written Ottoman codes dating from 1858, British officials often wished to characterize it as bewildering and antiquated, a barrier to modernization and progress. Missing from the literature is an attempt to problematize and contextual ize the Ottoman law in force during the mandate. In fact, Ottoman law in mandatory Palestine should not be studied as though it were a detached arbiter with fixed rules waiting to be administered by colonial officials. The historical study of land-law is better served by recognizing it as
期刊介绍:
The International History Review is the only English-language quarterly devoted entirely to the history of international relations and the history of international thought. Since 1979 the Review has established itself as one of the premier History journals in the world, read and regularly cited by both political scientists and historians. The Review serves as a bridge between historical research and the study of international relations. The Review publishes articles exploring the history of international relations and the history of international thought. The editors particularly welcome submissions that explore the history of current conflicts and conflicts of current interest; the development of international thought; diplomatic history.