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Journal of the Economic and
Social History of the Orient () –
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Judiciary and Wealth in the Ottoman Empire,
1689–1843
Zeynep Dörtok Abacı | orcid: ---
Professor of History, Bursa Uludağ University, FAS , Görükle Campus,
16059, Nilüfer, Bursa, Türkiye
dortok@uludag.edu.tr
Jun Akiba
Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo,
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
j-akiba@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Metin Coşgel
Professor of Economics, University of Connecticut, Unit 1063,
365 Fairfield Way, Storrs, CT 06269-1063, USA
metin.cosgel@uconn.edu
Boğaç Ergene | orcid: ---
Professor of History, University of Vermont, 133 South Prospect Street,
Burlington, VT 05405, USA
bogac.ergene@uvm.edu
Abstract
This article examines the accumulation, temporal variation, and inequality of wealth
in the Ottoman judiciary between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Using information from the estate inventories, we calculate the gross and net wealth of
judges at the time of death. Comparisons against contemporary economic indicators
show low to moderate levels of wealth accumulation among the judiciary. Wealth lev-
els varied significantly across judiciary subgroups and they dropped drastically in the
latter part of the eighteenth century. Regression analysis shows that differences in
motives for bequests and family connections to other members of the judiciary con-
tributed to the inequality of wealth.
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