Being a judge was a very important task in the Ottoman Empire, so the judges had to have religious, civil and administrative knowledge.
Being a judge was a very important task in the Ottoman Empire, so the judges had to have religious, civil and administrative knowledge.
Kadı is a public official who was appointed by the central government for a certain period of time to the settlements called kazas in the Ottoman Empire, who is solely responsible for the shari'a and administrative judiciary in his area of duty, and also fulfills the duties of civil administration chief, local administrator and police director.
The subjects that the kadis were directly and personally interested in were judicial matters. Their function in other tasks is to supervise processes rather than directly doing the work. II. During the reforms during the Mahmut period, their duties related to the municipality and security were taken, and during the Tanzimat Period, their administrative duties were taken and they only dealt with judicial affairs. The institution of kadi was completely removed from the Turkish administrative and judicial organization in 1924.
The kadis were independent as a lawyer and were the representatives of the sultan with absolute authority. Although they acted completely independently without taking orders from any authority in the region they served, they were only responsible to the sultan and the Divan. Since they were obliged to apply the Shari'ah law, they were not only central government officials, but also the representatives and spokespersons of the people against the state.[3] In case of an incident or complaint, they were inspected by other kadis.[3] There were also mobile kadi's, called land qadi, who were tasked with investigating and inspecting corruptions that needed to be investigated.
appointment of kadis
Being a judge was seen as a profession on its own in the Ottoman Empire; Those who had a madrasa education and had knowledge of law became kadi.[2] It is known that the first woman in the Ottoman Empire was appointed by Osman Gazi. In the beginning, kadis were appointed by the sultan as a result of the correspondence of the kazaskers with the central authority; II. With Mehmed's takeover of the management, new arrangements were made in the appointments. The proposal of the kazaskers gained importance in the persons to be appointed as kadis, and eventually, after being evaluated by the grand vizier, appointments as kadi began.
After completing their education in Ottoman madrasahs, the second option for young people who did not intend to stay as a scholar was to be appointed as a kadi. Candidates who intended to be appointed with the title of kadi were first tested in the presence of the sultan. This rule has changed since the 18th century, and candidates were taken to the exam in the presence of the kazasker. Candidates who passed the exam had to register with one of the military service offices.
Candidates were appointed as trainees, with at least five people each, in a large central qadi court. After three or five years of internship, the kadi candidates would come to Istanbul and spend time with mulazemet (assistant) for a year, and then they would be appointed as the judge of one of the lower cadres. The appointment, dismissal and transfer of kadis were carried out by the Anatolian and Rumelian kazaskers. After the enthronement of each new ruler, the duties of the kadis had to be reassigned and confirmed.
After the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, it has become a common practice for the children of those who hold office in the Ottoman Empire to be appointed to the post of kadi, even if they are not graduates of madrasahs.
Judicial duties
The kadis were in charge of dealing with many issues in the shar'i courts in the region where they served; Marriage, marriage, division of inheritance, protection of orphans and missing property, appointment and dismissal of guardians, supervision of compliance with the provisions of wills and foundations, crime and murder, and all other cases were handled by the qadis in the Shari'a courts and adjudicated according to the Hanafi sect. Kadis used to hear cases in mosques; He could also use his own house as a court.
Kadı also served as a notary public in the region where he worked. Duties within the scope of the notary public's service include arranging a charter, appointing heirs, issuing bills of credit, determining how orphans' property will be managed, arranging land registry records, marriage and divorce.
Administrative and Municipal duties
The main administrative duties of the woman were:
To ensure the administration and security of the city,
Supervision of tradesmen guilds,
Control of production and market places,
Supervision of mosque, foundation and school administrations,
Ensuring the zoning order of the city.
The main municipal duties of kadis are:
To ensure the general order and environmental cleanliness of the city,
To ensure the regular establishment of market places,
To control the price of products sold in bazaars and markets,
To control the measuring instruments used by the tradesmen for commercial purposes,
To carry out the necessary zoning and regulation activities in the region,
To prevent essential substances that the public constantly need from falling into the black market,
To give advice in order to maintain order and to impose measures and prohibitions where it deems necessary,
To give the necessary punishments to those who do not obey the orders and prohibitions.