The adet-i deştbani (sometimes known as resm-i destbani) was a charge, or tax, in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, which was a penalty for crop damage. The adet-i deştbani may have arisen as a result of tension between nomadic livestock-herders and settled farmers; the former's animals would encroach on, and damage, the latter's arable land; to discourage this, an official called a deştban (who was responsible to a sipahi) was responsible for crop protection - they also guarded against crop theft. If a farmer's horses, cattle, sheep or goats escaped and damaged another person's crops, then the farmer was liable to pay a fine, of a fixed amount per animal. This was separate from any compensation to the owner of the crops. The level of adet-i deştbani could vary from time to time and from place to place; in Mosul in 1540, it was set at 5 akçes per animal. A later ''kanunname'' (for the Morea and Anavarin in 1716) set a combined tariff of taxes and corporal punishment; after any damage had been estimated, a straying horse, mule, or ox would earn its owner 5 blows in addition to a 5 akçe fine; 4 akçes for a cow, 1 akçe for a calf or sheep - plus 1 blow per 2 sheep. The adet-i deştbani was considered to be a ''bad-i hava'' tax along with fines from crimes, the tapu charge for registration of land ownership, and the resm-i arusane (bride tax). It was a relatively minor tax, accounting for a small proportion of revenue from the ''raya''. Surviving tax records for the village of Sakal Dutan in 1550 show a total of 30 akçes for adet-i deştbani - far smaller than the 300 akçes paid on

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

crops, or the 170 akçes of land-tax such as

resm-i çift The Resm-i Çift (''Çift Akçesi'' or ''Çift resmi'') was a tax in the Ottoman Empire. It was a tax on farmland, assessed at a fixed annual rate per çift, and paid by land-owning Muslims. Some Imams and some civil servants were exempted from the ...

. One source even describes adet-i deştbani as a fee for the ''protection'' of crops; the fee being half a ''pinte'' of butter (worth 30 akçes).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adet-i destbani Taxation in the Ottoman Empire