An Introduction to The Ottoman Civil Code

Abstract

Majallah al-Ahkām al- Adliyyahn, also translated as Mejelle, is known as the civil code of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Majallah was the first attempt to codify a part of the Sharia-based law of a Muslim state. Moreover, this code was prepared by a commission headed by Ahmet Cevdet Pasha, issued in sixteen volumes, containing 1,851 articles, from 1869 to 1876. The substance of the code was based on the anafī legal tradition that enjoyed official status in the Empire. However, using the method of preference, it also incorporated non-anafīs legal opinions that were considered more appropriate to the time.