Turkish civil code ( tr, Türk Medeni Kanunu) is one of the earliest laws in the history of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

within the scope of Turkish reforms.

Background

During 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) ...

, the legal system of Turkey was

Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

like other Muslim countries. A committee headed by Ahmet Cevdet Pasha in 1877 compiled the rules of Sharia. Although this was an improvement, it still lacked modern concepts. Besides two different legal systems were adopted; one for the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and the other for the non Muslim subjects of the empire. After the proclamation of Turkish Republic on 29 October 1923, Turkey began to adopt modern laws.

Preparation

The

Turkish parliament The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

formed a committee to compare the

civil code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property, family, and obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core ar ...

s of European countries. Austrian, German, French and Swiss civil codes were examined Finally on 25 December 1925 the commission decided on the

Swiss civil code The Swiss Civil Code (SR/RS 210, german: Schweizerisches Zivilgesetzbuch (ZGB); french: Code civil suisse (CC); it, Codice civile svizzero (CC); rm, Cudesch civil svizzer) is a portion of the second part (SR/RS 2) of the internal Swiss law ("Pr ...

as a model for the Turkish civil code. The Turkish Civil Code was enacted on 17 February 1926. The

preamble A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subj ...

to the Code was written by

Mahmut Esat Bozkurt Mahmut Esat Bozkurt (1892 – 21 December 1943) was a Turkish jurist, politician, government minister and academic. His birth name was Mahmut Esat. But after the adaptation of the Turkish Surname Law in 1934, he chose the surname ''Bozkurt'' i ...

, the minister of justice in the

4th government of Turkey The 4th government of Turkey (3 March 1925 – 1 November 1927) was a government in the history of Turkey. It is also called ''the third İnönü government''. Background The government was formed after the previous government led by Fethi Ok ...

Women's rights

Although the Code covered many areas of modern living, the most important articles dealt with women’s rights. For the first time women and men were acknowledged to be equal. Under the prior legal system, both the women’s share in the inheritance and the weight of women’s testimony in the courts was half of that of the men. Under the Code, men and women were made equal with regard to inheritance and testimony. Also legal marriage was made compulsory, and

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

was banned. The women were given the right to choose any profession.Atatürk’s reforms page
/ref> The women gained full universal suffrage, on 5 December 1934.

References

{{Civil codes by country, Asia 1926 in Turkey Civil codes Law of Turkey

Background

Preparation

Women's rights

See also

References