ENORMOUS SOURCES OF THE OTTOMAN CULTURAL HERITAGE: JUDICIAL RECORDS; [Osmanlı Kültür Mirasının Muazzam Kaynakları: Şer’iyye Sicilleri]

The Ottoman Empire was a huge empire that hosted many different nations for centuries. The Ottoman State, that successfully implemented the concept of dynasty, left a lot economically, socially, culturally and politically to the communities that lived after it. It is not possible to directly identify these elements transferred from the Ottoman Empire to the present day. It is only possible to determine them indirectly through some written sources from the Ottoman Empire to the present day. One of these sources Judicial Records, which are used as data sources in many studies even today, are among the rare archive sources that enable scientists to firmly put their feet on the ground while commenting on the past. The aim of this study was to transfer to the reader what we can find about the Ottoman Empire in the Judicial Records, which are the enormous sources of the Ottoman cultural heritage, through examples. A randomly selected register was used, and all records in this register were categorized in a certain way. The extent to which this study guides the future studies to be conducted using the Judicial Records, the more it will achieve its aim and success. © 2021, Abidin Temizer. All rights reserved.