Assistant Judgeship from Pre-Islamic Turkish States to the Ottoman Empire
Abstract
The Law on Judges and Prosecutors was amended by the Law No.
7413 to include assistant judges and prosecutors in our judicial orga
nization. By introducing these officials who will assist judges and pro
secutors in our judicial system, it is both aimed to reduce the
workload as well as them to gain experience before they become jud
ges and/or prosecutors. It is important to study whether there had
been examples of the current legal institutions in our history to be
able to get a guidance in the functioning of these institutions. In this
context, it must be asked if there has ever been a practice similar to
assistant judges and prosecutors in our history although it is the first
in the sense of Law No. 7413. It is also important to question which
period did it emerge and how it was implemented if there was ever a
similar institution. These are some of the questions to be answered in this study. The most similar institution to the assistant judge
prosecutor practice in our legal history seems to be the nâibs who
served in the Ottoman judicial organization. The nâibs, who were de
puties of the kadi, were able to perform many legal and administrati
ve procedures both inside and outside of the court, and also to act as a
proxy for the kadi in case the kadi was absent from the court for some
reason. Since the “nâibship” in the Ottoman Empire is examined in
detail in our study titled “Nâib in the Ottoman Judicial Organization”,
it will not be discussed in this study again. The question of whether
any other similar practice existed before the Ottoman Empire and
even before Islam will be the main target of this study. At this point, it
should be noted that the practice of assistant prosecutor was exclu
ded from this study and the examination was made solely on the con
text of assistant judgeship since the institution of the prosecutor’s
office did not exist in Islamic legal practice until its entry into our ju
dicial organization in the post-Tanzimat period of the Ottoman Empi
re. In the study, the literature providing important information about
the pre-Islamic Turkish and Mongolian states and the post-Islamic
Turkish and Muslim states was reviewed and the following conclusi
ons were reached: In pre-Islamic Turkish states, having assistants in
state affairs was considered important and recommended. However,
there is no clear information about the officials assisting the judicial
officials. In the states of Çağatay Hanlığı and the İlhanlılar, it had been
seen that those who carried out judicial affairs had assistants. In the
Islamic State, from the time of the Prophet Muhammad and onwards,
those who carried out judicial affairs had people similar to assistant
judges assigned with various tasks. This practice continued during the
reign of the Four Caliphs. In the Abbasid period, the nâibs who were
authorized by the kadi to perform certain tasks, assisted the kadi in
various aspects. In the instances where the parties belonged to diffe
rent sects requested it, the kadi could have appointed people from the
relevant sect to deal with the dispute in question. At this point, it can
be said that these officials functioned as similar to assistant judges. In
the Mamluk State, there had been practices similar to the Abbasid
practice. Deputies could have been appointed to take care of judicial
affairs due to intensity of workload or in the case of parties belongingto different sects. In addition, although their duties were not clear, it
was observed that there were more than one nâib in some courts of
the Mamluk State.
Keywords
İSLAMİYET ÖNCESİ TÜRK DEVLETLERİNDEN OSMANLI DEVLETİ’NE HÂKİM YARDIMCILIĞI
Abstract
7413 sayılı kanun ile Hakim ve Savcılar Kanunu’nda değişiklik ya-
pılmış ve yargı teşkilatımıza hakim savcı yardımcılığı getirilmiştir. Yargı
teşkilatımız bakımından bir ilk olmakla birlikte bu kuruma benzer ör-
neklerin tarihimizde mevcut olduğu bilinmektedir. Hakim savcı yar-
dımcılığına hukuk tarihimizde en benzer kurum Osmanlı adli teşkila-
tında görev almış nâiblerdir. Osmanlı öncesi ve hatta İslamiyet öncesi-
ne gidildiğinde benzer bir kurumun mevcut olup olmadığı sorusu ise bu
çalışmanın konusudur. Çalışmada İslamiyet öncesi Türk ve Moğol dev-
letleri ile İslamiyet sonrası Türk ve Müslüman devletler hakkında
önemli bilgiler veren literatür taranmış ve şu sonuçlara varılmıştır:İslamiyet öncesi Türk devletlerinde devlet işlerinde yardımcılar olması
önemsenmiş ve öğütlenmiştir. Fakat yargı işini yürütenlere yardımcı
olan görevlilerden bahseden açık bir bilgiye rastlanılamamıştır. Çağa-
tay Hanlığı ve İlhanlılar’da ise yargılama işlerini yürütenlerin yardımcı-
ları olduğu görülmüştür. İslam Devleti’nde Hz. Peygamber döneminden
itibaren yargı işlerini yürüten kimselerin çeşitli işlerle görevlendirdiği
hakim yardımcısı benzeri kimseler olmuştur. Dört Halife döneminde de
bu uygulama sürdürülmüştür. Abbasiler döneminde kadıların belirli
işlerle yetkilendirdiği nâibler çeşitli açılardan kadılara yardımcı olmuş-
tur. Tarafların farklı mezhepten olması ve talep etmeleri halinde kadı-
lar, ilgili mezhebe mensup kimseleri söz konusu uyuşmazlık için görev-
lendirebilmiştir. Bu noktada görev alanların da hakim yardımcılığına
benzer işlev gördüğü söylenebilir. Memlük Devleti’nde de Abbasi uygu-
lamasına benzer uygulamalar mevcut olmuştur. İşlerin yoğunluğu se-
bebiyle yargı işlerine bakmak üzere veya farklı mezhepler söz konusu
olduğunda vekiller görevlendirilebilmiştir. Ayrıca Memlük Devleti
mahkemelerinde görevleri açık olmamakla birlikte sayısı birden fazla
olan nâiblerin bulunduğu görülmüştür.
Keywords
