The Malikane System in Ottoman Tax Law

Abstract

The malikane system can be defined as a method of domestic debt in the context of Ottoman tax law. As a result of the political and military developments in the Ottoman Empire, it was understood that the tax farming method, which was primarily improved to meet the cash need of the state, caused some problems in practice, and the malikane system was adopted in order to eliminate these deficiencies. At the beginning of the innovations coming with this system is the tax farming duration’s being lifelong. What is expected from the malikane owner is to protect both the tax resource with the right of tenancy and the raayah during this period. Besides, it is to pay annual taxes regularly in the amount determined by the state with the mu‘accala price that has to be paid at the beginning. It is thought that malikane system met the cash needs of the state to a large extent when it was implemented, however, it is seen that this system has some problems in practice like tax farming but provides the expected benefit. For this reason, the Ottoman administration moved into the ashām system. In this study, the theoretical framework of the malikane system, its appearance in the 49th and 50th Konya Registries corresponding to the years when it started to be implemented and how it is reflected in practical applications are discussed.