Supreme Council of Judical Ordinances as the Mediator Reform Institution at Tanzimat Bureaucracy in the Pursuits of New Administrative Structure (1861-1868)

The Tanzimat Period essentially indicates to a new era in the administrative understanding of the Ottoman State with all its aspects. During this period, the relationship between the ruler and the subject began to change, and the Ottoman central and provincial administrative system underwent radical transformations. The Tanzimat Period was officially started as of 1839 Gülhane Hatt-ı Hümayunu/The Imperial Edict of Gulhane, but considering the origins of the reform, this Firman consists of a formalized formulation of the reorganization process of the government that began in the Mahmud II era. The most important steps of the process that pave the way for the Tanzimat was establishment of ministries by completely changing the cabinet system and adopting a European-style cabinet understanding, establishing councils with the status of expert advisory boards in order to provide technical support and expertise to the central administrative body Suplime Porte in the reform process. After the official start of the Tanzimat Period, the Meclis-i Vâlâ-yı Ahkam-ı Adliye/Supreme Council, established by Mahmud II, was charged with preparing the legal infrastructure of the Tanzimat reforms. This council, which is responsible for preparing the legal basis for the modern tax system, financial structure and administrative order, legal system construction, was organized as the control center of the Tanzimat reforms. However, conducting a sophisticated reorganization process throughout the Ottoman geography resulted in the dysfunction of the Meclis-i Vâlâ with its current structure. Thereupon, Meclis-i Âli Tanzimat was established as a higher legislative body in 1854 due to the deceleration of the reform process. During the bilateral council period, Meclis-i Tanzimat took over the legislative duty, Meclis-i Vâlâ was interested in judicial matters. By virtue of the fact that the job descriptions of the councils were not clear, the conflict of authority occurred in the operation, and the transformation balances of power in the Tanzimat bureaucracy, the understanding of the dual assembly was abandoned and the two assemblies were united under the name of Meclis-i Ahkâm-ı Adliye/Supreme Coincil of Judicial Ordinances in 1861. The modus operandi, boards of experts and bureaucratic structure of the new Coincil were re-determined in order to accelerate the reform efforts. In this respect, the new legislative structure can be considered as the updated version of the Meclis-i Vâlâ. However, the concentration of all judicial and administrative powers under a single roof in the center, while the functions were separated in the provincial assemblies and courts, while the authority was shared, was a development contrary to the natural process. In fact, the central bureaucracy realized that the concentration of authority slowed down the reform process instead of accelerating it and did not stand against the expectations of functional separation and this parliament evolved into a dual structure where administrative and judicial powers were separated. In this study, the contribution of the Meclis-i Ahkam-ı Adliye to the acceleration of the reorganization proceeding within the scope of the central reform legislative body tradition brought by the Tanzimat is evaluated.

Keywords

Ottoman State, Period of Tanzimat, Supreme Council of Judicial Ordinances, Suplime Council of Tanzimat, administrative reform