WALLACHIAAND MOLDAVIA FROM THE OTTOMAN JURIDICAL AND POLITICAL VIEWPOINT, 1774-1829 Viorel Panaite* The juridical nature of the relations of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia with the Ot- toman centre has been the main theme of Romanian historiography concerning Ottoman affairs. Some researchers have accepted only a de facto relation affected constantly by abuses. 2 This as- sertion comes into conflict with a large spectrum of juridical, political and administrative sources which prove the existence of a de jure status of the Romanian Principalities within the pax otto- manica system. Romanian contributions on this topic have been obsessed with proving that the Romanian Prin- cipalities enjoyed a superior status in comparison with the Balkan countries. In order to fulfil this aim, several concepts have been invented – sometimes improperly and equivocally – to describe the status of the Principalities, such as ‘subject states’, ‘dependent states’, ‘vassal states’, ‘autono- mous states’, ‘effective dependence’, ‘Ottoman domination’, ‘autonomy’, etc. The concepts of ‘vassalage’ and ‘autonomy’ deserve special treatment. Most historians and jurists have defined the relations between tribute-paying princes and sultans from the European juridical and political point of view, seeing them as a vassal-suzerain relationship. In this respect, we must emphasise two observations. On the one hand, the concepts of ‘vassal’ and ‘suzerain’ were used belatedly to define the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the Romanian Principalities, i.e., especially in eighteenth and nineteenth-century European official documents, narrative writings, and translations of Ottoman documents. 3 As a matter of fact, Western histori- * Institute for South-Eastern European Studies of the Romanian Academy / Faculty of History, University of Bucharest. 2 For instance L. P. Marcu, ‘Idei despre stat si drept în opera lui Dimitrie Cantemir’[Ideas on State and Law in Di- mitrie Cantemir’s Works], Studii si cercetari juridice, 3 (1973), 497. 3 Moreover, in Western Europe this medieval notion would not have been used in nineteenth century diplomatic ter- minology, except for defining the relations between the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria in the years 1878-1909 and panaite.qxd 17/11/2006 11:12 Page 1