| Meclis-i Vâlâ-yı Ahkâm-ı Adliye | |
 Office of the Supreme Council | |
| Successor | Supreme Council of Reorganization Council of State Council of Judicial Regulations |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1838 |
| Dissolved | 1868 |
| Location | |
The Supreme Council of Judicial Ordinances (or the Grand Council of Justice, Turkish: Meclis-i Vâlâ-yı Ahkâm-ı Adliye, also known as Meclis-i Vâlâ), was a legislative and judicial body of the Ottoman Empire the Tanzimat period, serving as the equivalent of a Court of Cassation, Court of Appeals, and a Council of State. The council was indeed split into these institutions upon its dissolution. Established in the later end of Mahmud II's reign, it was at first mandated to give opinions and recommendations on legislation drawn up from other parts of the government, but was soon given the sole authority to draft its own laws, regulations, and legislation during the Tanzimat era.[1]
The Supreme Council's rules included a parliamentary procedure which gave the right to free speech for all its members and orderly discussion.[2] It was the first institution of the central government to include non-Muslims.[3]
The Supreme Council of Judicial Ordinances' purpose was to create an "ordered and established" state by means of "beneficent reorderings" [Tanzimat-ı Hayriye] of state and society. The eponymous era is therefore derived from the decree which established the council.[4]
- ^ Shaw & Shaw 1977, p. 78.
- ^ Kinross 1977, p. 474.
- ^ Davison 1963, p. 30, 93.
- ^ Shaw & Shaw 1977, p. 38.