Evaluation of the verdicts that were sent to muhassillik of Morea (Dated 1716-1749 Morea Ahkâm Registers)

There are scanty number of studies on muhassıllık administration. Besides, in these studies, its fiscal and administrative aspects were scrutinized. At the end of the 17th century, principal sanjaks in the Ottoman Empire were started to be governed with muhassıllık. Main factor that lead to beginning of this application can be observed as the attempt of the state to prevent deficiencies in tax collecting process. That is, this institution was established at the beginning of the 17th century for fiscal concerns but later muhassıls acquired various military, economic, administrative, legal and political commissions. The Muhassıllık of Morea as well, was founded and developed on a similar base. In this study, putting aside the the fiscal and other commissions of this Muhassıllık, we focused on its role in the legal functioning in Morea. As the main source of the study, we laboured on the verdicts that were directly sent to Muhassıl of Morea that were dated 1716-1749 Morea Ahkâm Registers. Respective verdicts were thematically categorized and evaluated. Our main problematic was that muhassıls were not a mere fiscal official but they had a certain authority in solving the many legal, political, commercial and social problems that emerge in their areas. In this context, we tried to explain legal capacities of muhassıls and in which duties they were commissioned by the Center. KEYWORDS: Muhassıllık, Morea, Ahkâm Registers.