Social cultural and economical analysis of number 20 Court records of Uşak

Court records are among the most important sources in Turkish history. Having started to be kept since the 15th Century, court records continued to be kept until the first quarter of the the Twentieth century. The continuation of their register in the early years of the Turkish Republic is particularly important in terms of illuminating the period of transition from the Ottoman to the republic. The city of Uşak's number 20 court record's being the last record kept in the city and revealing its social, cultural, administrative and economic characteristics are among the main reasons for choosing the topic of the thesis. The aim of this study is to analyze and interpret the first years of the Republican period in 1929 in consideration of number 20 Court Records of Uşak in terms of social, cultural, administrative and financial aspects. The main source of the study contains civil court records of Uşak's number 20 Court Record. The cases are extremely rich in types varying from inheritance, receivables, divorce and mainly the proof of year. Thanks to this richness of type in law suits, Uşak's number 20 Court Records give us the opportunity of gaining multilateral information about Uşak in 1929. The verdicts in the records begin from number 131 and discontinue to the number 705. Despite the alphabet Reform in 1928, the verdicts were penned Ottoman Rica. After basic transcription, the records were classified and evaluated carefully in a planned way. The thesis consists of five chapters. In the introduction, some general information about the history of Uşak along with the classification and evaluation of Uşak's vi number 20 Court Record has been provided in a detailed way. In chapter one includes information about Uşak's general administrative structure, districts, villages, martyrs, authorities and officials. In the second chapter consists the elaborate analysis of social and cultural structures and period's occupations, epithets, titles, marriages, the number of children, the names given to children, divorce, inheritance and heritage are explained in detail. While the third chapter includes the economic structure, the final chapter contains the summary of the verdicts on the records. This study explaining Uşak in the first term of the Republic is important in understanding this period as well. Keywords: Court Records, Uşak, Administrative Structure, Social and Cultural Structure, Family, Epithet.