From the Pages of the Defter (ص 180)

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From the Pages of the Defter (ص 180)

المحتوى

intra-village conflicts over how to register their lands? There were not any villages who did not
register at least their residences in the names of individuals, so fear of recording one’s name
does not seem a plausible explanation for en bloc registrations. It could not have been a
measure to avoid taxes, because taxes were assessed and charged. The en bloc registration and
payment of property taxes it entailed was a stake to official claim by the village on the land.
There is a growing consensus among historians that it was economic benefits that
Ottomans sought foremost to gain in the second half of the nineteenth century through
institutionalizing a fee-based property-registration and transference system, streamlining the
tax system, instituting a broad-based property tax, and individualizing its levy. Accordingly, we
can conclude that it was in Ottoman interest that the registration commissions displayed the
flexibility and pragmatism that are known to be characteristic of Ottoman governance over its
large and diverse empire. This allowed them to register the greatest amount of properties
possible. In this light, en bloc registrations in the emlak register appear to have been a
compromise. As long as the the land identified and the amount of its dunams recorded, a value
for the land could be assessed and the vergi cedid (new property tax) could be levied.
For these same reasons of encouraging compliance with the law, it would also be
prudent for the Ottomans in the decades to come to keep in place a variety of mechanisms to
facilitate individuals’ observance of the new regulations and procedures after the fact of their
initial implementation. After all, it was from registrations, whenever they took place, and the
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From the Pages of the Defter

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المنشئ

Susynne McElrone

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Generated Pages Set

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