Land Tenure and the concept of "Property": the History of Legal Practice in Syria and Lebanon in the Last Century of the Ottoman Empire

In: Chronos: revue d'histoire de l'Université de Balamand, Band 37, S. 111-142

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide substantial insights into the land tenure system in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the late nineteenth century. While Ottoman institutional and legal reforms (Tanẓimāt) tended towards applying common standards throughout all the imperial territories, some provinces were granted relative autonomy, among them Mount Lebanon Mutaṣarrifiyya (1861). Within the framework of an empirical examination of the application of the land law reforms in the Bilād Al-Shām, the paper compares the autonomous province of Mount Lebanon with the province of Syria (Wilāyat Sūriyya). Starting with reflections on the "particularism" of Mount Lebanon, claimed by the Lebanese actors themselves, the article shows how exceptions became generalized across the vast Empire. The concepts of "possession" and "property," fundamental to any analysis of the land tenure system, are looked at here not only through an examination of the centralized law and local customs and legal practices, but also through an analysis of the linguistic, geographical and social nuances employed by the actors concerned.