Ottoman Land Code of 1858 - Knowledge (XXG)

732:, p. 39 (Mandatory Organizations); letter written by M. Doukhan, Advocate, on 19 January 1941. "Meraʿa lands," same as "Arazi Metruké" in the Ottoman Land Code, of which there were two kinds: the first being "pasture land" that has been allotted to a village or number of villages, and which cannot be cultivated or turned into private property or belong to individuals (Art. 97 of the Ottoman Land Code). Such lands were used principally as pasture land for grazing; the second being "pasture land" that was privately owned, and which could be used for general cultivation, such as ploughing and sowing (Article 5 of the Law of Disposition of Immovable Property of the year 1913 (1331)), without the necessity of obtaining special authority. 991:, Empire Survey Review, 4:28, 362-380, DOI: 10.1179/sre.1938.4.28.362, page 366: "The total land area of Palestine is some 10,500 square miles, of which very approximately no more than one-third is cultivable… Among the numerous duties of the Cadastre is the management of the State Domain. This roughly covers an area of 500 sq. miles, which comprises 90 sq. miles of sand dunes. Forest Reserves of about 280 sq. miles are not included in the State Domain… Fifty-one per cent of the State Domain is occupied by Arabs and seventeen per cent by Jews; negotiations for leasing a further 12 sq. miles to Jewish organizations were being conducted in 1936, during which 404 leases and agreements affecting properties in general were concluded." 445:

and Israel quickly moved, in 1968, to cancel the possibility of registering one's title with the Jordanian Land Register. Claims for land in the other two thirds depended on either a Turkish or British certificate of registration, or through tax registers and proof of purchase under Jordanian law. On

158:

Prior to the enactment of the Ottoman Land Code, 1858, land was held by virtue of Sultanic decrees, grants made by conquerors of various areas, judgments of both civil and Muslim religious courts, orders of administrative authorities and deeds of sale executed before the Muslim courts. Encroachment

362:

or clan. The Ottoman system and all later governments until 1967 acknowledged that the land surrounding the village was for the use of its inhabitants either as common pastures or for the future development of the village. The villagers did not have any need or opportunity to register their lands.

60:

since 1516, was cultivated or occupied mainly by local farmers. Land ownership was regulated by people living on the land according to customs and traditions. Usually, land was communally owned by village residents, though it could be owned by individuals or families. The Ottoman Empire classified

210:

The registration process itself was open to manipulation. Land collectively owned by village residents was registered in the name of a single landowner, with merchants and local Ottoman administrators registering large stretches of land in their own name. The result was land that became the legal

425:

began to apply an Ordinance for the "Commutation of Tithes," this tax in effect being a fixed aggregate amount paid annually. It was related to the average amount of tithe (tax) that had been paid by the village during the four years immediately preceding the application of the Ordinance to it.

703:

tenure (i.e. conditional usufruct tenure of land held by grant from the State) can only exercise such rights as can be shown to have been accorded to them by the State, and these rights are laid down in the Ottoman law... Failure of successors brings the grant to an end and the land becomes

420:

of the gross yield of the land. Crops were assessed on the threshing floor or in the field and the tithe was collected from the cultivators. In 1925, additional legislation provided that taxation on crops and other produce not exceed 10%. In 1928, as a measure of reform, the

405:(allotted by the state to a village or number of villages and which cannot be private property of individuals), and is only leased to the tenants of indefinite duration, in which the lease is represented by the obligation to pay land taxes and land registry fees. When the 902:), which reads: "The land law in Palestine embraces the system of tenures inherited from the Ottoman regime, enriched by some amendments, mostly of a declaratory character, enacted since the British Occupation on the authority of the Palestine Orders-in-Council." 393:

on 10 August 1922, Palestine Order in Council), according to which provisions the validity of the Ottoman law that existed in Palestine on November 1, 1914, was recognized, and made subject to orders and regulations issued from then on by the mandate government.

351:

Local Palestinian tradition, underwritten by both Ottoman and British law, held that the land belonged to God or the sultan: families could maintain the land but the notion of private property title was alien, despite efforts since 1858 to introduce it. Until

330:

or allodial lands (privately owned property) in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was limited, and was usually only found in the old cities or in garden areas. Rural land in this category was rare. In nearly all cases (excluding only “Waqf” lands, and communal

219:

With the enactment of the Ottoman Land Code, that same year the Turkish Government also passed the Land Registration Law of 1858, for better regulation of its land tenure laws, and, by way of extension, a more efficient way of levying taxes on property.

175:

The Ottoman Land Code of 1858, prepared by the Tanzimat Council, was an original Ottoman creation, neither European nor entirely Islamic. It was founded on traditional land practices and included categories of land cited in Islamic law.

159:

on unoccupied land belonging to the State and various other unauthorised methods accounted for large holdings. Land acquired by lawful means (such as grant from a competent authority) was, in theory at least, reported to

1096: 103:

lands were properties that were owned by private individuals that were collected through conquest, state endowment, or inheritance. These lands were subject to taxation by the Ottoman Empire.

237:

tenure, being land assured to pious foundations or revenue from land assured to pious foundations; also usufruct State land of which the State revenues are assured to pious foundations

470:

of 1921. The Jordanian government never considered the last three as state land, and only a very small proportion of the West Bank was registered as such under Jordanian rule.

183:, requiring land owners to register ownership. The reasons behind the law were twofold. (1) to increase tax revenue, and (2) to exercise greater state control over the area. 433:

stated that the State Lands measured 500 sq miles out of Palestine's total area of 10,500 sq miles; at that point 51% of State Domain was occupied by Arabs and 17% by Jews.

1251: 313:

The extent to which each of these modes of law applied to the several countries under Ottoman rule varied, and was largely dependent upon the country itself.

695:, British Mandate government printing office, Jerusalem 1946, vol. 1, pp. 226 – ff., of chapter 8, section 1, paragraphs 6 & 16(Reprinted in 1991 by the 211:

property of people who may have never lived there, while locals, even those who had lived on the land for generations, became tenants of absentee owners.

517: 246:

was land given by the Ottoman conqueror to Muslims, or Khuraj lands given to Christians and taxed, in exchange for Muslim protection. It was private or

286:

land, being land subject to public easements in common, or servitude State land, such as roads, cemeteries and pastures. Included in this class is

382: 818:, British Mandate government printing office, Jerusalem 1946, vol. 1, pp. 225–226 of chapter 8, section 1, paragraph 3 (Reprinted in 1991 by the 679:, British Mandate government printing office, Jerusalem 1946, vol. 1, p. 226–227, of chapter 8, section 1, paragraph 6 (Reprinted in 1991 by the 223:

The Ottoman land law classifies land under five kinds or categories. These, with suggested approximate counterparts in English, are as follows:

1286: 1261: 1164: 1110: 1085: 1057: 898:, British Mandate government printing office, Jerusalem 1946, vol. 1, p. 225, of chapter 8, section 1, paragraph 1 (Reprinted in 1991 by the 834:, British Mandate government printing office, Jerusalem 1946, vol. 1, p. 225 of chapter 8, section 1, paragraph 3 (Reprinted in 1991 by the 326:

As an example for regional variations, not all of these modes of user were actually found in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. The extent of

1266: 976: 960: 944: 1271: 1256: 1156: 297:= dead (uncultivated/uninhabited) land; unoccupied lands not held by title deed, and lying over 1.5 miles from any town or village. 367:). Customary practice however under the British was reviewed to consider all land within village and town boundaries as no longer 1246: 389:

to all inhabitants. The laws then in place were officially recognized by Article 46 of the King's Speech (enacted in the name of

899: 835: 819: 696: 680: 1186: 522: 466:– the last three were state land, taking advantage of modifications enacted by the British Mandatory Authority, such as the 446:

assuming control, Israel suspended these procedures, and asserted that of five categories of land in the old Ottoman Law –

729: 603: 556: 257:

was neither (a) nor (b) but referred to lands given out for conditional public use, while ultimate ownership lay with the

1276: 1098:

Pillage of the Dead Sea: Israel's Unlawful Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

720:, British Mandate government printing office, Jerusalem 1946, vol. 1, p. 229, of chapter 8, section 1, paragraph 12. 1281: 1049: 1077: 363:

They knew among themselves which of the village lands belonged to which families and which were owned in common (

131:

means that the Ottoman Sultan has assigned the tithes or taxes to a specific object as opposed to an individual.

656:, British Mandate government printing office, Jerusalem 1946, vol. 1, p. 237, chapter 8, section 3, paragraph 37 36: 577: 557:

Full text of the Ottoman Land Code, Translated by F. Ongley of the Receiver General's Office in British Cyprus

397:

The Ottoman Land Code inherited by the British prescribed that houses were mostly privately owned and called "

143:

is land that nobody has claimed ownership of which has subsequently been neglected and remains uncultivated".

919:(in Hebrew). Vol. 1 (parts I-II) (2 ed.). Jerusalem: Hebrew University: Magnes Press. p. 94. 1125: 282: 385:

at the end of 1917 with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, they applied the Ottoman laws of the

304:, land that reverted to the state if left uncultivated for 3 years or left vacant and up for re-grant. 619:

Nadan, Amos (2020). "Revisiting the anti-mushāʿ reforms in the levant: origins, scale and outcomes".

430: 422: 353: 273:(usufruct) titles existing in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem are based on a presumed or lost grant. 1225: 1134: 636: 356:, which redistributed land to individual family units, village land was held collectively by the 1123:(Spring–Summer 1985b). "Some Legal Aspects of Israeli Land Policy in the Occupied Territories". 988: 947:), vol. 1, chapter 8, section 5, British Mandate Government of Palestine: Jerusalem 1946, p. 255 979:), chapter 8, section 4, British Mandate Government of Palestine: Jerusalem 1946, pp. 246 – 247 917:

Jewish Law: History, Sources, Principles (Ha-mišpaṭ ha-ʻivri - toldotav, meḳorotav, ʻiḳronotav)

1182: 1160: 1106: 1081: 1071: 1067: 1053: 920: 749: 666:

Islamic Law in Palestine and Israel: A History of the Survival of Tanzimat, Robert H. Eisenman

1150: 1043: 665: 605:

Ottoman Land Code, Translated by F. Ongley of the Receiver General's Office in British Cyprus

261:. It was feudal or State land, but can also specifically refer to vacant State land, private 1217: 1146: 628: 24: 581: 113:, and military commanders (these lands were kept through payments to the Ottoman Empire). 109:

lands were state owned properties that the Ottoman sultan could bestow to loyal subjects,

963:), chapter 8, section 4, British Mandate Government of Palestine: Jerusalem 1946, p. 246 379: 160: 57: 32: 1240: 1120: 912: 640: 527: 390: 290:

land, meaning, pasture land reserved primarily for the use of the adjoining villages.

53: 416:

At the time of the British occupation the land tax was collected at the rate of 12.5

575:

Ottoman Land Registration Law as a Contributing Factor in the Israeli-Arab Conflict

401:

land" (land vested fully and completely to their owners), while land was viewed as

1179:

Overthrowing geography: Jaffa, Tel Aviv, and the struggle for Palestine, 1880-1948

730:

Israel Government Archives (Land Registry Office of Jerusalem - Register of Deeds)

632: 1174: 534: 584:, Jon-Jay Tilsen, Congregation Beth El–Keser Israel (retrieved August 14, 2006) 269:(f), or what is defined as escheated State land. Most Ottoman registrations of 233:

generally was property gifted to a pious end, consisting of allodial land in

1221: 147: 191:

Small farmers, however, saw no need to register claims, for several reasons:

1205: 924: 741: 482: 441:

By June 1967, only a third of West Bank land had been registered under the

163:, where an effort was made to maintain a series of registers known as the 508: 494: 262: 247: 234: 81: 28: 1229: 1138: 746:

Jerusalem and its Environs: Quarters, Neighborhoods, Villages, 1800–1948

975:(Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the 959:(Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the 943:(Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the 242: 1208:(2015). "Land Privatization in Nineteenth-century Ottoman Palestine". 1073:

Clash of Identities: Explorations in Israeli and Palestinian Societies

989:

PALESTINE: ANNUAL REPORT, 1936, OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND SURVEYS

1102: 488: 358: 110: 27:) was the beginning of a systematic land reform programme during the 574: 503: 198:

General opposition to official regulations from the Ottoman Empire

35:

in the second half of the 19th century. This was followed by the

258: 229: 195:

Land owners were subject to military service in the Ottoman Army

654:

The Survey of Palestine under the British Mandate: 1920 – 1948

896: