Seeking Justice: Muslim and non-Muslim in the Kadı’s Court. A Case Study of Kayseri, 1610s-1690 (according to şer’iyye sicilleri of Kayseri)

This paper on seeking justice regarding avâriz –tax assessment and payment
relies on the şer’iyye sicils of Kayseri. It begins by reviewing the traditional Near
Eastern concept of State Juctice in conjunction with the archival evidences. By
examining the court cases and the imperial orders in these sicils it will be possible
for us to assess how both Ottoman judicial system and central administration dealth
with the complaints regarding the avâriz levies in the Ottoman sub-province of
Kayseri, 1610s-1690. It will then be possible for us to see how common people,
Muslim and non-Muslim alike, fought with rising problems in the avâriz taxsystem,
or how they sought justice, and to what decree they knew what was their
legal right and what not by examining the sicils themselves.