Abstract:

The architects of thousands of old documents and records, preserved for centuries up to the present day, are the judiciary clerks, who had physically written them on paper. It is these clerks who have made it possible to pass all these valuable records and data to the following generations.Gaining more power from the 15th century on, the central government added a new class among the already existing military and ilmiyye classes: the bureaucracy (the group of scribes or clerks). It is now known for long that those who could read and write were generally assigned good positions in governmental organizations during the Ottoman history and that they were considered to be crucial figures. Hence, the class of clerks left indelible memories of past in our minds.In the Ottoman period, the clerks were divided into four main categories based on the duties they carried out: these are clerks of Divan and Babıali, clerks of treasury and finance, clerks of record keeping and the judicial clerks. This study primarily investigates the role and the status of the clerks employed in the Ottoman judicial system. The study aims to compile a series of şeriyye(court) records and analyse them and present the findings in an orderly manner.

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