This thesis examines the participation of Armenians in the shari'a courts of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Scholars have traditionally thought that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire resolved their disputes within their own communities' legal systems. However, new studies of Ottoman court records reveal that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire frequently used the shari'a courts to resolve a wide variety of disputes. There are several possible reasons to account for this frequent shari'a court use by a community that theoretically had its own courts. The first is that the Armenian millet's legal structures were perhaps exaggerated or misunderstood by previous scholars. The second is that Islamic law was not as unfavourable to dhimmis as presumed and that the shari'a courts were adequate for their needs. Finally, the way the courts applied Islamic law was sometimes advantageous to certain dhimmis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.99600 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Setrakian, Aida Alice. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Institute of Islamic Studies.) |
| Rights | © Aida Alice Setrakian, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002600550, proquestno: AAIMR32558, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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