From the Pages of the Defter (ص 159)

غرض

عنوان

From the Pages of the Defter (ص 159)

المحتوى

assertions that the continuance of musha is proof that Ottoman land reforms were resisted by
the fallahin, evaded and, thus, failed in Palestine. The debate began after the fall of the
Ottoman Empire, in the early years of British rule over Palestine. It has focused on Article 8 of
the Land Code. This article states,
All of the lands of a town or village cannot be granted wholesale (toptan
olarak) to the whole of its inhabitants, nor by choice to one, two, or three
from among them. Different pieces of land are to be awarded to each
inhabitant (her sahsa baska baska arazi ihale olunarak), and title deeds
showing their usufruct (tassaruf) are to be delivered to them.7°~
The idea that Article 8 forbade musha landholdings was first challenged in scholarly
262
literature in 1927, by R.C. Tute, then president of the Mandate Land Court in Palestine.” Tute
reasoned, “The proviso implied by making the article apply only to a grant of the whole of the
7263
lands of a village, appears to legalise a grant of some of the lands in common. This
notwithstanding, misunderstandings have persisted in the literature about Ottoman intentions
264
to dissolve musha, and its legal permissibility after land reforms.“ The key phrase in Article 8
*61 1858 Land Code, Article 8. Unal et al., Tanzimat Sonrasi, 105.
82 RC. Tute, The Ottoman Land Laws, with A Commentary on the Ottoman Land Code of 7" Ramadan 1274
(Jerusalem: Greek Convent Press, 1927): see Article 8 and his commentary on it, pp. 17-19. In his preface,
Tute notes that his understanding of Ottoman land laws is based on Stanley Fisher’s 1919 translation of
them into English. Fisher, in turn, as Martin Bunton has observed, relied on George Young’s 1906
translation of the Code into French: Corps de Droit Ottoman (Martin Bunton, Colonial Land Policies in
Palestine, 1917-1936 (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2007): 40.). Neither Young or Fisher,
however, commented on the legality of musha in their translations.
*63 Ibid., 18.
264
For example,
142

هو جزء من

From the Pages of the Defter

تاريخ

٢٠١٦

المنشئ

Susynne McElrone

مجموعات العناصر

Generated Pages Set

Theses رسائل ماجستير ودكتوراه