SECTION XIV.
On the Public Officers established at Islámból at the time of the Conquest.
Within three years the city of Islámból became so populous, and contained such a sea of men, that it was impossible to restrain its inhabitants without public authority. The assistants first granted to the Grand Vezír Mahmúd Páshá, were five executioners, a regiment (ódá) of janissaries, with a Muhzir Aghá (colonel), cháúshes (apparitors) of the Tópjís and Jebehjis, a captain (ódábáshí) of the Bóstánjís, and a túfenkjí (musketeer), and matarahjí (water-carrier) taken from the janissaries, with whom he took his rounds through the city on the fourth day of every week, in order to punish by the falákah (bastinado) all transgressors of the law. He went first to the Díván-khánah (Court-house) of the tradespeople at the U’n-kapán (flour-market), and held a díván there; he next visited the stairs (iskeleh) of the fruit-market, and held a díván to fix the price of fruit; from thence he proceeded to the green-market and shambles (Salkh-khánah), where he settled the rate at which greens and mutton should be sold, and he afterwards returned to the Seráï.
The second public officer was the Segbán Báshí (commander of the Seïmens), to whom the falákah was entrusted, but he had no executioners.
The third was the judge and Móllá of Islámból, who could inflict the bastinado (falákah), and imprison for debt.
The fourth, the Móllá of Iyyúb, who could inflict the same punishments.
The fifth, the Móllá of Ghalatah, and
The sixth, the Móllá of Uskudár, possessing the same power within their respective jurisdictions.
The seventh, the Ayák Náïbí, or superintendant of the markets, who punished all who sold above the legal prices, or used false weights and measures.
The eighth, the Mohtesib Aghá-sí (inspector of shops), by whom all defaulters in buying and selling were punished, according to their offences, with imprisonment and torture; such as covering their heads with the entrails of beasts, or nailing their ears and noses to a plank.
The ninth, the ’Asas-báshí, and
The tenth, the Sú-báshí, two police-officers attended by executioners provided with whips and scourges, but not with rods and stocks (falákah). They made domiciliary visits, took up offenders, and attended at the execution of criminals condemned to death.
The eleventh, the Islámból-Aghá-sí, or commandant of Constantinople.
The twelfth, the Bóstánjí-báshí, who constantly, from night till morning, takes the round of all the villages on the sea-shore, punishes all whom he finds transgressing; and if any are deserving of death, throws them into the sea.
The thirteenth, Chórbájís (colonels of the janissaries), who continually go round, from night till morning, with five or six hundred of their soldiers in quest of suspicious persons, whom they send prisoners to the Porte, where they receive their due.
The fourteenth, the forty Judges appointed, according to the law of the Prophet, to preside over the forty Courts of Justice (mehkemeh) in Islámból, under the four Móllás mentioned above. They also have power to imprison and inflict punishment.
The fifteenth, the Sheïkho-Islám or Mufti (head of the law). He can only give the legal answer to questions submitted to him, viz. “It is,” or “It is not.” “God knows!” “Yes,” or “No.”
The sixteenth, the Anátólí Kází-askerí (military judge of Anatolia), has no right to punish, but sits in the díván as chief and president of all the Asiatic judges.
The seventeenth, the Rúm-ílí Kází-’askerí (military judge of Romelia), has likewise no power of punishing, but decides all lawsuits brought into the díván from the country, and is the head of all the European judges. He is likewise appointed, by the canons of Sultán Mohammed the Conqueror, to write all the imperial patents (beráts).
The eighteenth, the Commander (Dizdár) of the Seven Towers.
The nineteenth, the chief Architect; if any building be erected in Islámból without his permission it is pulled down, and the builders are punished.
The twentieth, the Kapúdán-Páshá (Lord High Admiral) established in the Arsenal (Ters-khánah); who commands by sea night and day.
The twenty-first, the Kyayà (ket-khodà) of the Arsenal (Ters-khánah), who, if any thieves are found by day or night in the district called Kásim Páshá, can inflict the severest punishment, even death, if necessary.
The twenty-second, the Ta’lím-khánehjí Báshí (adjutant-general, commander of the 54th regiment of janissaries), and of the kórújís (invalids), whose barracks are within the boundaries of Ok-meïdán, take their rounds there, and if they meet with any suspicious vagabonds, carry them to their commander, the Atíjí Báshí (Chief of the Archers), who, punishing them according to their deserts, orders them to be suspended from a tree by the string of the bowmen, and assailed by a shower of arrows.
It was ordained by the regulations of Sultán Mohammed the Conqueror, and that ordinance has been renewed by a khatisheríf (imperial rescript) from all his successors, that any offender whom these officers shall apprehend, if he be a soldier, shall receive no mercy, but be hung upon a tree forthwith. In fine, in the districts on both sides of the Strait of the Black Sea, there are thirty-three magistrates, and thirty-five local judges, deputies of the Móllá, in the city. But the town of Bey-kós has a separate jurisdiction, the judge of which is appointed by the Munejjim Báshí (astronomer royal). Besides the judges and magistrates already enumerated, there are also 166 District Judges, subordinate to the four Móllás of Islámból, 360 Subáshís, eighty-seven guards of janissaries, with their commanding officers (serdárs), and forty Subáshís of the free vakfs (charitable foundations). In short, the whole number of Kázís and Súbáshís within the precincts of Islámból, established by the code (kánún) of Mohammed the Conqueror, amounts to twelve hundred. There are also within the same jurisdiction the governors and magistrates of 150 corporations of tradesmen; but these governors have no legal authority to imprison and punish; they can only determine questions respecting the statutes of the corporations over which they preside.