Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ISTANBUL HUKUK MECMUASI, cilt.84, sa.1, ss.410-434, 2026 (ESCI, TRDizin)
This study examines the impact of ak & ccedil;e adjustments on dowry contracts in the Ottoman Empire through the fatw & amacr;s of the Shaykh al-Isl & amacr;ms. The ak & ccedil;e, the basic unit of the Ottoman monetary system, entered a period of instability with a series of major adjustments beginning in the mid-1580s; from the 1640s onwards, it virtually disappeared from circulation for roughly fifty years and functioned primarily as a unit of account. In Ottoman practice, the mehri mu'ajjal-a long-term debt generally payable in the event of divorce or the death of one spouse-was inevitably affected by such adjustments, especially when stipulated in ak & ccedil;e. The fatw & amacr;s issued between 1662 and 1716 contain numerous cases showing that these monetary changes generated disputes between debtors and right-holders. The specific amounts, currencies, and prevailing exchange rates cited in the fatw & amacr;s indicate that they were formulated from real legal cases. Such disputes typically arose when the ak & ccedil;e specified as dowry was demonetized, withdrawn from circulation, demanded atthe prevailing rate in anotherlocality, orsoughtto be paid in a currency different from and/or of lower fineness than that originally stipulated. This study analyzes these disputes and the corresponding legal responses in light of monetary history. It also demonstrates how the Shaykh al-Isl & amacr;ms applied Hanaf & imacr; law to the concrete problems of their time. Similar monetary interventions underlie both the examined dowry disputes and many debt-related conflicts in contemporary Turkey. Thus, the study offers not only a contribution to Ottoman legal, economic, and social history, but also a historically informed perspective on present-day debt relations.