Nizamiye (niẓāmiyye) courts were established in the 1860s and ended the centuries-long dominance of sharīʿa courts as the primary judicial body of the Ottoman Empire. They were one of the milestones of the Tanzimat (Tanẓīmāt) era. It took some fifteen years of administrative and statutory adjustments before the institutional characteristics of the new court system were finalised through extensive laws and regulations in 1296/1879. These laws established a clear division of labour between sharīʿa and nizamiye courts. The reformers entrusted the sharīʿa court, a body with a si…