Roundtable: Islamic Land Law, Program in Islamic Law, Harvard Law School, February 21, 2024 @ 12:30 – 1:30 pm

WED 21 FEB 2024 | 12.30-1.30 | via Zoom

Event::Roundtable on Islamic Land Law

The roundtable focuses on the transformation of the Ottoman land system in the 19th century, particularly examining the 1858 Land Code (Kanunname-i Arazi) and its impact on land laws in the Ottoman Empire’s successor states. With case studies focusing on Bosnia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia, the roundtable will explore how these changes influenced the balance between labor and capital, the privatization of estates and agricultural lands, the legal rights of landholders, and the link between land ownership and sovereignty. The discussion aims to understand continuity and change between Ottoman and successor state legal systems by analyzing bureaucratic interactions and the use of Ottoman and European legal sources. By also considering the political and economic reasons behind these legal changes, including how new administrations used them for nation-building, the roundtable offers new perspectives on legal continuity and adaptation in post-Ottoman regions.

The link for this roundtable is available here.