LAW AND CHANGE: A STUDY OF THE CULTIVATION OF WASTELAND IN THE 16TH-17TH CENTURY OTTOMAN EMPIRE

This article examines the nature of legal change in Islamic law through the case of the cultivation of wasteland (ihyaMODIFIER LETTER RIGHT HALF RING al-mawat) in the 16th17th century Ottoman Empire. Imber, one of the leading scholars in modern Ottoman historiography, argues that there was an incompatibility between qanun and shariMODIFIER LETTER LEFT HALF RINGah regarding the legal consequences of opening up wastelands (mawats) for agriculture in the Empire. He asserts that the legal doctrine of the Hanafi school gives the right of full ownership (al-milk al-tamm) to a person cultivating a wasteland with the permission of the ruler (imam), while the Ottoman sultans' qanuns only grant this person the right of disposal (haqq al