Provincial Governance (civil Administration)
Townspeople, villagers and farmers formed a lower class called the rayah. Both in contemporaneous and in modern usage, it refers to non-Muslim subjects in particular, also called zimmi.
Civil and judicial administration was carried out under a separate parallel system of small municipal or rural units called kazas administered by a qadi (kadı). Kazas in turn were subdivided into nahiyas. The qadis came from the ulema and represent the legal authority of the sultan. The civil system was considered a check on the military system since beys (who represented executive authority) could not carry out punishment without the sentence of a qadi. Likewise, qadis were not permitted to personally effect punishment. In the areas of sharia and kanun law, qadis were responsible directly to the sultan.
Read more about this topic: State Organisation Of The Ottoman Empire
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