Lawmaking through translation: Translation of the 1858 Ottoman Penal Code from the 1810 French Penal Code

The subject of the thesis is `lawmaking through translation?. The thesis investigates the case of the 1858 Ottoman Penal Code which was made through translating the 1810 French Penal Code in the Ottoman Tanzimat Era. Focusing on the 1858 Ottoman Penal Code, which has not been studied by a translation studies scholar to this day, the thesis aims at putting forth the necessity of including the phenomenon of `lawmaking through translation? in translation studies and exploring the phenomenon via the methods and approaches of translation studies. The thesis also aims to re-think the original-translation binary opposition in the context of the 1858 Ottoman Penal Code.The thesis pursues the answers to the following questions: How are the basic binary oppostions, especially the original-translation binary opposition, manifest in the case in question? What kind of a translation and equivalence relationship does exist between the 1858 Ottoman Penal Code and the 1810 French Penal Code? How did the historical context of the Ottoman Code shape the translation strategies deployed in the production of the Code?The comparison of the 1858 Ottoman Penal Code and the 1810 French Penal Code by using the desriptive analysis method has shown that more than one translation strategy was used and that different parts of the source code were translated with different strategies and considerations, not in a chaotic way but so as to create a regularity. The comparison of the codes in terms of the classification of crimes has revealed that the classification of crimes in the source code was literally translated into the target code, while indicating a change in the translation of the crime-punishment equation and a systematic moderation of the crimes in the source code. The comparison of the codes in terms of the definition and execution of the punishments has indicated an equivalence relationship between the codes in question, which is positioned between adequacy and acceptability. The comparison of the codes in terms of the crimes against the state has displayed an equivalence relationship closer to adequcy whereas the comparison of the codes in terms of the crimes against persons has displayed an equivalence relationship closer to acceptability.The results of the comparison of the codes have been evaluated in the context of the transformation of the Ottoman penal law system, which consisted of Islamic law and customary law, in the Tanzimat Era identified with Ottoman westernization/modernization and the translation decisions made during the translation of the target code have been concluded to be conscious, rather than random. The equivalence relationship closer to acceptability, observed in the articles on crimes against persons has been argued to stem from the anxiety of the lawmakers/translators, who were to produce an eastern penal code which regulated all the crimes and punishments according to a western penal code. On the other hand, the equivalence relationship closer to adequacy, observed in the articles on crimes against the state, has been argued to be the result of the role the target code was expected to play in the transformation of the Ottoman State into a modern, central one. It has also been argued that, the Ottoman Code, in this particular context, was used to fill a vacuum in the existing Ottoman legal system and that the Code belonged to the `translated law? system in the Ottoman `legal polysystem?.In the light of the obtained findings, it has been put forward that the 1858 Ottoman Penal Code is a translation that cannot be explained by means of the source/faithfullness-oriented traditional translation approach. This stems from the fact that the Code is a translation, which was not produced to be a translation/to be presented or perceived as a translation in the target system. Hence, it has been claimed that the original-translation binary opposition becomes invalid in this case of `lawmaking through translation? where the translated code is the law itself and thus is both original and translation at the same time.