摘要：The institution of appellation represented one of the basic principles of the organization of the Ottoman Empire, as well as one of the principal institutions of the Islamic legal system. It was based on the concept of a just rule, or in other words, the principles of legal security and universal access to justice for all subjects of a state. The decentralization process in the Ottoman Empire during the transitional period (XVII-XVIII centuries) caused a change in the relations between center and periphery. That stirred an abrupt expansion of the institution of appellation through the şikâyet (or ahkâm) administration, especially after 1742. This paper attempts to analyze the process of expansion of the institution of appellation and its real role in the Ottoman legal system. On the other hand, the goal of the research is also to position it inside the framework of the provincial proto-political struggles.
关键词：Ottoman Empire; transitional period; institution of appellation; ahkâm administration; political initiatives
