The Ottoman Sancak (Liva) Legal Codes
The Sancak (liva) Kanunnames which carry primal importance among the archival sources were formed of decrees that aimed to cover all taxable facilities of the tax-paying population of the region. They not only include terms about agriculture and animal breeeding facilities, but facilities like mining, commercial facilities in a harbour or a market place also together with different stratus of the society like the yörüks or müsellems. The Sancak Kanunnames have been studied by the Ottoman historians for more than a century. Up till now we see that an index of these kanunnames have been done, and almost all of the kanunnames have been published in Latin Alphabet. When we overlook to all of the studies made on this subject we see that apart from the studies of some compotent historians like Heath Lowry, most of the studies contain nothing more than the publication texts of the kanunnames; they are not suitable to comparative historical writing and are weak regarding historical methodology.
GÖKNUR KARADUMAN
