The Mejelle: The Ottoman Empire’s First Islamic Civil Code (1869-1876)

The period between 1869 and 1876 witnessed the staggered promulgation of the Mejelle-i Ahkâm-ı Adliyye (or simply the Mejelle), a fundamental milestone in the legal history of the Ottoman Empire and Islamic law in general. This codification, carried out during the modernization reforms known as the Tanzimat, represented a pioneering attempt to adapt Islamic law to the needs of a modern state.

Background: The Need for Judicial Modernization

In the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire faced pressure from European powers and the urgent need to modernize its legal and judicial structure. The Tanzimat reforms had introduced the Nizamiye Courts (secular courts) to handle modern commercial and criminal disputes, but there was no uniform civil code for these new tribunals.

The central debate was whether to adopt a European civil code (such as the French Civil Code, or Code Napoléon) or to codify traditional Islamic law.

· The European Option (The Code Napoléon): Adopting a European code would ensure legal equality between Muslims and non-Muslims and facilitate international trade relations. However, this meant abandoning the Sharia, which was politically unacceptable to the ulema (religious scholars) and a portion of the population.

· The Islamic Option (The Mejelle): The commission, chaired by Ahmet Cevdet Pasha, opted for a pragmatic middle path: to codify the Hanafi school of Islamic law (the official legal school) in a modern, systematic, and articulated manner. The goal was to demonstrate that the Sharia was flexible and rich enough to serve as the basis for a modern civil law.

The Mejelle was, therefore, an act of cultural and political resistance, an attempt at modernization from within the Islamic tradition.

Content and Structure

The Mejelle is distinguished by its approach and organization, which prioritized clarity and accessibility—key elements of modern codification:

1. The Legal Maxims (القواعد الفقهية – Qawāʿid Fiqhiyyah)

The Introduction to the Mejelle is perhaps its most famous and enduring part, as it contains 100 Legal Maxims. These are concise, general rules that summarize the Islamic legal philosophy and served as a guide for judges. Examples include:

· “Difficulty brings ease.”

· “Harm must be eliminated.”

· “The intent of contracts is considered, not the words and form.”

2. Areas Covered

The body of the code, divided into 16 books, focused on:

· Law of Obligations (Contracts, sales, rentals).

· Property Law (Assets, possession, trusts, expropriation).

· Procedural Law (Court procedure, evidence, and testimony).

3. The Exclusions (Criticism of Scope)

The Mejelle excluded Family Law and Inheritance Law, which continued to be governed by traditional Islamic laws. This was one of the main points of controversy and criticism:

· Modernists: Criticized the code as incomplete, arguing it failed to address the urgent need to modernize the status of women and family laws.

· Traditionalists: Despite being based on Sharia, some scholars criticized the codification itself as an unnecessary innovation (a bidʻah) that “petrified” a body of law that had always been fluid and flexible.

Legacy and Impact in the Middle East

The true legacy of the Mejelle was manifested after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Although it was abolished in Turkey in 1926 (replaced by the Swiss Civil Code), the code became the direct antecedent of civil law across much of the Levant and Mesopotamia.

In the new Arab states, the Mejelle remained in force for decades:

· Transjordan/Jordan

· Iraq (until 1953)

· Syria (until 1949)

· Lebanon (until 1932)

· Palestine/Israel (it formally remained in force in areas of contract and tort law until it was gradually repealed in the 20th century).

Even after its repeal, the Mejelle left a profound mark: the civil codes that replaced it often retained its terminology, structure, and sometimes even its principles. It served as an essential bridge between medieval Islamic legal tradition and the necessity for modern, codified legal systems throughout the Middle East.

The Mejelle thus stands as a monument to legal ingenuity, demonstrating that Islamic law could be systematized and modernized, laying the foundation for civil law in the region well into the 20th century.