Transformation in commercial law in the 19th century Ottoman and its reflections on economic relations: An institutional analysis

The 19th century is a period in Ottoman history, in which radical changes and transformations were experienced in every field, especially since the proclamation of the Tanzimat. The name Tanzimat comes from the root of "regulation". In foreign literature, the Tanzimat is also referred to as "legislation". This period was a period in which legalization activities began in accordance with these names. Codifications first started in the field of Commercial Law. The first Commercial Code of the Ottoman Empire entered into force in 1850 by translation from the French Commercial Code. About 20 years later, Mecelle-i Ahkâm-ı Adliye was declared through the codification of Islamic law in the fields of Civil Law and Law of Obligations. In this period, besides enactments, some changes were made in the judicial organization. In this context, commercial courts and nizamiye courts were established next to the existing judicial institutions of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, judicial institutions were established to enforce the law. In this process, on the one hand, these laws, which have opposite origins, filled each other's gaps when they were in force together. On the other hand, these courts, whose fields of activity were designed differently from each other and necessary arrangements were made in this regard, substituted each other from time to time. Therefore, in terms of Ottoman legal history, while this period had the appearance of "duality in law", it also gave the impression of "legal pluralism" for those who would use the courts and benefit from the laws. In this study, economic and commercial cases were selected from among the parties that applied to the said courts due to various disputes in this period, and were evaluated from various aspects such as relationship types and parties. In addition, the litigation processes and outcome were analyzed with the conceptual tools of institutional economics which deals with economic development with its many dimensions and explains it especially depending on the level of development in commercial laws.