Two judicial records of the Bakhchisaray law-court: A study of fornication
Journal: Acta Orientalia
Year: 2010

This article tries to shed light on zinā crimes in 17th-century Crimea. First it examines zinā ‘fornication, adultery’ in theory and in practice, then it gives the legal basis of zinā as it appears in Sunni legal tradition, finally investigates two zinā cases as reflected in the records of the Bakchisaray/Crimea law court. A special zinā case from 17th-century Istanbul is also studied. The main aim of the article is to compare the legal content of the court documents with the Hanafi legal princi