Bulgarian Customary Penal Law in the Period of Ottoman Bondage Cover Image

Българското обичайно наказателно право по време на османското иго
Bulgarian Customary Penal Law in the Period of Ottoman Bondage

Author(s): Mihail Andreev
Subject(s): Anthropology
Published by: Институт за етнология и фолклористика с Етнографски музей при БАН

Summary/Abstract: In the period of Ottoman bondage the Bulgarian people, rallied and united in their struggle against the Ottoman conquerors, succeeded in gaining a measure of self-government for their communities, and later availed themselves to their advantage of the self-government granted to the guilds of craftsmen recognized by the Ferman (Decree) issued by Sultan Moustafa Khan. The self-government of the communities and the guilds was connected with a definite measure of jurisdiction in the sphere of pen 1 law, in which the bodies of communal and guild courts applied customary Bulgarian law. The village mayers, notables and elders, the first master craftsmen and members of the craft guilds were those who imposed penalties for comparatively minor offences, committed by the members of the Bulgarian communities and guilds. The community council punished thefts of agricultural products committed by members of the Bulgarian communities and guilds, and of cattle and household goods, damage done to property, assaults and buttery, insults and slanders, and immoral acts. The Guild Court imposed penal sanctions for insubmission to the basic regulations of the guild constitutions, to the order established by them and for manifestation of disloyal competition (accepting another member's customer, or apprentice, 'raising' the price of shop rents, and buying goods without the guild's permission). These sanctions, imposed by the community and guild courts were: fines (in cash or kind); flogging; imprisonment (more rarely used); shutting the shop of a guilty member of the guild and forbidding him to exercise his craft; humiliating punishments (parading the thief with the stolen goods around the village with shouts and hisses; rakes were mounted on donkeys, facing their tails, or seated in carts, and led around the village for opprobrium and reprobation). In general, the penal sanctions imposed by customary law were not as severe as those established by the Sheriatic law and the written Ottaman law. As they came from among the people and shared their hardships, the members of the communal and guild courts usually showed a certain leniency and did not impose severe punishments, except for offences against sexual morals and for certain thefts in which the thief was caught red-handed.

  • Issue Year: 1978
  • Issue No: 3-4
  • Page Range: 65-82
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Bulgarian