Crime and Punishment in Ottoman Times

Corruption and Fines

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3368872
AutoresMetin M Cosgel (0000-0002-1249-1535, Economic Policy Institute), Bogac Ergene (Boǧaç Ergene is Associate Professor of History, University of Vermont. He is the author of Local Court, Provincial Society, and Justice in the Ottoman Empire: Legal Practice and Dispute Resolution in Çankırı and Kastamonu (1652–1744) (Leiden, 2003).), Boğaç A Ergene (0000-0002-3873-5729, Inspire Institute), Haggay Etkes (Haggay Etkes is Lecturer, Tel Aviv University, and Economist, Research Dept., Bank of Israel.), Thomas J Miceli (0000-0002-6289-9280, Thomas J. Miceli is Professor of Economics, University of Connecticut. He is the author of The Economic Theory of Eminent Domain: Private Property (New York, 2011); The Economic Approach to Law (Stanford, 2009; orig. pub. 2004).)
Año2012
Volumen43
Número3
Páginas353-376
Fecha de publicación2012-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Interdisciplinary History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-1953 • E-ISSN: 1530-9169
EditorialMIT Press - Journals (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1162/jinh_a_00422
OpenAlexW1971717471
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas28

Ruling for more than six centuries over lands that spanned three continents, the Ottomans developed a system of law enforcement that initially relied on fines collected by local agents. In the sixteenth century, much of the revenue from these fines went to the local officials in charge of identifying suspects and punishing criminals. To prevent corruption, the personnel responsible for adjudicating criminals were not also responsible for punishing them; public officials were periodically rotated between regions; and law-enforcement agents' compensation derived from criminal fines as well as local taxes. After the seventeenth century, high levels of inflation, imperial decentralization in the provinces, and the institution of long-term tax farming altered the government's relationship with local law-enforcement agents, thereby reducing the effectiveness of mechanisms that previously helped to control corruption. These developments impelled the Ottomans to decrease their reliance on fines for punishment in later periods

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