Decree on the organization of the vilayets, 1867
Decree on the organization of the vilayets, 1867

Summary/Abstract: The present paper contains The Decree on the Organisation of Vilayets in the Ottoman Empire, which was definitely passed in 1867. The first version of the decree was passed in 1865 and, translation to Serbo-Croatian, appeared in Bosanski Vjestnik, Nos. 4-10, 28 April - 11 June 1866. The first version of the decree retained nearly all the titles of administrative officials which had been valid before the organisation of the vilayet system in the Empire. The Decree on the Organisation of Vilayets from 1867. brought radical changes with regard to the titles, competences and institutions of the authorities, and it was valid for the whole Empire. The decree is of great importance for the study of administrative organisation in the provinces, because such organisation was retained in Bosnia and Herzegovina up to the end of the Ottoman Rule, with insignificant changes with regard to some institutions. The decree is adapted to our contemporary language and administrative terminology, and .this is its first official publishing in Serbo-Croatian. The decree itself. is divided according to territorial and administrative organs of authority, so that it begins with the vilayet and concludes with the village. Since by this decree an obligatory electoral system for all organs of authority has introduced, the election procedure is defined for each organ separately, from vilayet and supreme authority to village headmen and village councils. By this decree the organization of authority has definitively got modern phisiognomy and cleared away all traditional institutions of Ottornan feudalism. The outlines of such organisation are today still visible in the organisation of authority in the Republic of Turkey.

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