Kânûn: A Genealogy of Law in the Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Middle East

How has it happened that the term kânûn has been adopted by different political and legal regimes – Muslim empires, Muslim monarchies, colonial states, secular and Islamic republics – to refer to their respective 'state laws'? This study explores the lengthy and complex history of kânûn from the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries. The transformations of the concept enabled its broad circulation and malleable applications in significantly different political and legal contexts across time. Guy Burak examines how the Ottoman dynasty and its administrative, intellectual, and judicial elites experimented with the concept of kânûn, alongside Ottoman subjects and foreigners. Written in accessible language, the study covers a wide range of material from Turkish, Arabic, and Persian sources. By focusing on specific moments along the genealogy of kânûn, Burak draws attention to aspects of this concept that have shaped its post-Ottoman history. This is a Flip it Open title and may be available open access on Cambridge Core.