LAW251 Chapter 1-7
LAW251 Chapter 1-7
LAW251 Chapter 1-7
Introduction
Wherever there is a society, there is law. Law occurs along with society. Think Robinson Crusue
and his friend Friday. Before Friday reached the island, Robinson could do whatever he wanted.
However, after Friday’s arrival, the need for the law became required.
Religious rules
It includes not only the rules found in sacred texts, but also the more practical rules developed by
religious groups themselves.
They are hardly altered or changed.
Its sanctions will be applied after death.
Its principles are single-sided.
Customary rules
If habits (daily behavior of people) become antique, compulsory, consistent, and continuous; they
are considered as custom.
Sanctions of custom may be expressed by social pressure imposed on individuals (e.g.
condemnation, linch)
Custom doesn’t change fast.
It compels everybody to act in a definite way.
Moral rules
Moral rules are generally accepted standards of goodness and rightness.
They are single-sided rules and don’t have any compulsory sanctions.
They don’t generally confer bilateral rights and obligations.
Legal rules
The state is the sources of law. In case of non-compliance, it implements the rule by force.
Definition of Law
There is no generally agreed definition, though many legal writers have attempted to define law.
Dictionary definition: a rule or set of rules, enforceable by the court, regulating the government of
the state the relationship between the organs of the government and the subjects of the state and the
relationship or conduct of subject towards each other.
The word of law comes from Arabic in a single form (right = hukuk).
Characteristics of
legal rules
Legal Sanctions
By the court: Imprisonment, fine, compensation, revocation, probation, nullity, void,
annulment
Sources of Law
Hierarchy of law
The hierarchy between rules is also a result of the legal order established. Each rule takes its legal
content and feature from the rule above itself.
Mahmoud
Almoalem
LAW 251
Legal Systems
4- Socialist law (Note: this kind of law system was mentioned in the slides but the book did not talk
about it at all).
In fact, these divisions are not as clear-cut as they might seem. Therefore, there are so-called
“Mixed” or “Hybrid” systems. Mixed systems are basically those countries which use a mix of
features from common and civil law systems.
- Common law is the term used indicating courts as a focal point in the common law method, process
and tradition.
- Common law roots go back to the middle ages (system of writs, courts of law and courts of equity)
until this system was abolished in mid-19th century.
- While common law relies on some scattered statutes (legislative decisions), it is largely based on
precedent. Precedent means the judicial decision that has been made previously in similar cases.
- Common law was developed by custom. Later when there will be written laws, the courts continued
to use the laws of customs too.
a- There is generally a written constitution based on specific codes. So, civil law is codified.
b- The role of a judge's decision is less crucial than in common law. The role of the judge in civil
law is to establish the facts of the case and to apply the provisions of the codes. In civil law judges
are always described as investigators.
c-Lawyers have less central role than in common law. Their role basically is to advise their clients
on points of law and to prepare legal pleadings for filling with the courts.
d- There are specific courts to the underlying codes (EX: constitutional court, administrative court
and civil court systems).
e- Less freedom of contract.
f- Legislation (written sources) is the primary source of law.
g- Courts have to operate extensively on the basis of general rules and principles of the codes.
• - It is that legal system which uses religious system or document as legal source.
• - There are four main religious law systems:
1- Canon Law (Christianity): Law of the Roman Catholic church and it uses bible as source
of law.
3- Hindu Law: Vedic literature, the law of Manu, Dahrama as main sources of law. This law
is going to be replaced in the colonial period by Anglo-Sexan law which was made by
British.
4- Islamic Law: Quran, Sunnah, Quiyas and Ijma as main sources of law.
__________________________________________________________________________
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Several concepts:
Justice: The correct outcome of legal dispute.
Law: The system of binding rules
The purpose of every law must be to uphold justice and that is why they say “Justice under
the law”.
__________________
Legal Positivism:
The question of law is not what the law ought to be, but rather what the law actually
considered as law.
Legal positivism is a school of jurisprudence whose advocates believe that the only legitimate
sources of law are those written rules, regulations, and principles that have been expressly enacted,
adopted, or recognized by a governmental entity or political institution, including administrative,
executive, legislative, and judicial bodies. It is a view that law is a social construction.
Therefore, from a positivist perspective, it can be said that “legal rules or laws are valid not
because they are rooted in moral or natural law, but because they are enacted by
legitimate authority and are accepted by the society as such”.
According to this view, laws shall be implemented as long as they are in effect and as long as they
are not amended (changed) regardless of whether these laws achieve justice or not.
Natural Law:
It has a moral dimension. They seek to define law not simply as it is, but also how it ought
to be. They believe that law has its ideal values such as justice, equity and fairness.
According to this view when laws fail to comply with natural law (natural justice), they are
unjust law and need to be disobeyed.
__________________
Domestic Law (internal affairs of a state):
The rules applying to legal issues within the jurisdiction of a particular state. It comes from
legislature and custom.Other names: National law, Internal law, municipal law.
International law:
The rules which organize the legal relations between and amongst states and other members
of the international community. It consists of treaties and customs.
The relationship between domestic and international law:
1- Dualism (pluralism): The rules of international law and domestic law exist independently
and separately. So, they do not affect each other and they do not constitute a unified system
of law. Positivists usually uphold dualism in the relationship between domestic and
international law.
2- Monism: Domestic and international law are part of the same legal system. So, they both
constitute a unified law system.
________________
Substantial law (Statutory law): The body of legal rules that determine rights and impose
duties and obligations.
Procedural law: the rules which provide the method for enforcement of rights.
For Example:
A law that makes burglary a crime is a substantive law and the law that gives anyone accused of
burglary the right to a fair trial is procedural law.
Introduction to Law - LAW251
2020-2021 / Fall
Zehra Badak
Summary of 3rd Chapter
Application Of Legal Rules
Methods of Reasoning
Provisions of laws two components: letter and spirit.
Letter of law: Law’s literal meaning.
Spirit of law: General meaning or purpose of law, as opposed to its literal content, in other
words the intention of law.
Why do we need to interpret legal rules?
1. The letter and spirit of a law might differ. Sometimes following the letter of law might
mean that we don’t follow the spirit of law or vice versa.
2. The vague and uncertain nature of legal rules gives the opportunity to interpret.
3. Texts cannot carry all possible details of a rule, they contain the basics. In order to reach a
conclusion for a detailed condition, interpretation is needed.
2. BURDEN OF PROOF
2.1. Burden of Proof In Civil And Criminal Cases
The one that is presenting the claim should prove its claim to be true. It is the prosecutor in the
criminal cases and plaintiff in the private cases.
Plaintiff: The party that initiates the law sue. Carries the burden of proof.
Defendant: The party who defends themselves in front of the court. He also has the burden
of proof to prove the plaintiff wrong.
(Plaintiff carries the burden of proof in the first place. When he proves, the defendant must
bring proof to defend himself. So, burden of proof changes hands.)
Prosecutor: is like a lawyer of public. In criminal cases the claim is done by the prosecutor.
3. PRESUMPTIONS (Karine)
There are some presumptions that is accepted by the court without any evident.
1. Statutory (Legal) Assumptions: Assumptions made by the law. For example father of a child
that was born in a marriage is the husband. The husband doesn’t need to prove that he is the
father, this is already accepted by law. Whoever claims otherwise, they should prove it (the
claimer). Statutory assumptions can be both rebuttable or irrebuttable
2. A Rebuttable Example: A merchant’s all interactions are accepted to be commercial (statutory
assumption). But he can prove otherwise by showing that he bought a car for his son which is
not a commercial reason.
3. An Irrebuttable Example: A sexual interaction with a child younger than 15 is crime. Even if
the parties claim the 14 years old was willing to, this cannot be proven otherwise and the crime
is done.
Note: A presumption cannot be issued by a directive or a regulation, it has to be done by law.
2-) Free-will Criterion: In private law, the parties of legal relations act with their own free will;
that means to act as one desire. However, in public law, individuals do not have the freedom to
regulate the conditions of the legal relations in which they take part.
3-) Sovereignty Criterion: This criterion is based upon the idea of state authority. The advocates of
this criterion accept the opinion of that the relations in public law are regulated by the sovereignty
of the state which is the supreme political authority imposing everybody to act in accordance.
4-) Equality Criterion: In private law, the accession of the contracting parties has equal powers.
No one has a privilege against the other party and inferior-exterior relationship with each other.
On the other hand, whatever criteria are used there always are a large section of legal rules which
cannot be put in one category or the other without any objection.
Extra Notes about them (This part is not included in book but the slide has it) Comparison between
Private-Public Law
1-) Precedence: It is possible to argue that private law has a lower rank from public law
2-) Mandatory Regulations: All of the public law rules are mandatory but the private law does not
have mandatory rules as much as public law.
3-) Public-Private benefits: Public benefits are more dominant than private benefits.
4-) Duality/Singularity: There is duality in private law but there is not it in public law.
5-) Execution: In public law, authorities have the right of execution but in private law people do not
have.
6-) Compliance with law: At the beginning, you have to accept that the action of public authority is
right. You have to obey it. In the public law, after the court order that you look it comply or not
comply with the law.
7-) Ex-officio application: The public law rules will be applied directly.
8-) Authorized court: For instance, Tax disputes will be solved in Tax court or criminal disputes
will be solved in Criminal court. However, the private law that the disputes will be solved within
the civil courts.
9-) Development: private law is more developed than public law.
Public law comprises constitutional law, administrative law, tax law and criminal law, as
well as all procedural law. (Laws concerning relationships between individuals belong to
private law.)
YILMAZ ACAR
*If you detect any missing or inaccurate information please let me know.
*The following questions are answered on the first page;
-Why does humankind need a constitution?
-What does the constitution mean?
5-CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
Unit-1: Meaning of constitution.
Unit-2: Types of constitution
Unit-3: Constitutionalism in the world and Turkey
GLOSSARY
-Constitution: is the fundamental political principles on which a state is governed, especially when considered as embodying the
rights of the subjects of that state. Therefore we can say a constitution is a body of law that attributes power to public authorities, that
regulates the fundamental relations between public authorities and that regulates the fundamental relations between the public authority
and the individual itself. Constitution is actually the mother of all laws. So no law can be against the constitution therefore it is
fundamental and supreme. In addition to that the constitution can be either written or unwritten. The constitution also refers to the
composition of the government.
-Government: is the executive policy-making body of a political unit, community, etc; ministry or administration.
-Republic is a state or nation in which the supreme power rests in all the citizens entitled to vote (the electorate) and is exercised by
representatives elected, directly or indirectly, by them and responsible to them.
-Freedom. is the quality, especially of the will or the individual, of not being totally constrained; able to choose between alternative
actions in identical circumstances
-Article: is a clause or section in a written document such as a treaty, contract, statute etc.
Content
Topics of Constitution:
-Organization and form of administration
-Functions of different organs
-Fundamental rights of citizens
-Relationship of the government with people
-Procedure of the governmental transactions
1-In Preliminary chapter which is also called a preamble. Wan see the main ideology of that state. The ideology means the approach of
that state to the political rights or fundamental rights or the thinking and the social rights of its citizens. It generally explains why this
constitution is made. Some constitutions sometimes do not have a preliminary part. Some preambles are very small and very summarized
and some preambles are very long. The Turkish constitution is an example for a long preliminary. It explains the approach of the
constitution to the sovereignty of the nation, the ideas and the fundamental rights of its citizens.
It is also um discussed and argued whether this preliminary part is actually included within the constitution. However in our general
principles this preliminary is referred within the article and made a part of our constitution.
2-The General principles chapter; mainly explains whether that state is a unitary or a federal state, a monarchy or a republic state, a
secular or religious state. The capital city of the state, the original language and the symbol of the state, the flag and the owner of the
sovereignty.
According to our constitution;
Article 1; Shows us the form of the state. It says “the state of Turkey is a republic.
Article 2; Sets the characteristics of the republic it says “the republic of Turkey is a democratic, secular and social state governed by rule
of law within the notions of public peace national solidarity and justice respecting human rights, loyal to the nationalism of Atatürk and
based on the fundamental tenets set forth in the preamble”. As you see by directly referring to the preamble within article 2 our
constitution makes the preamble at the indistinctive part of the constitution. So then we are trying to interpret the regulations within the
constitution, we not only take the articles into consideration but also the preamble itself.
Article 3; The integrity, official language, flag, national anthem and capital of the state is regulated as follows; “ The state of Turkey with
its territory and nation is an indivisible entity. Its language is Turkish. Its flag, the form of which is prescribed by the relevant law, is
composed of a white crescent and star on a red background. Its national anthem is the “Independence March”. Its capital is Ankara.
There is an additional article here on the Turkish constitution as irrevocable provisions.
Article 4; The provisions of article 1, 2, 3 are accepted as that they cannot be amended or proposed to be amended.
So the constitution has set forth the main political and main ideology of the state within its general principles and it is very similar to most
of the states that have a written constitution.
3-Institution of state chapter; It mainly regulates the constitution of how do you constitute a state, what are their organs, what are their
authority and how are they related to each other. As you see it includes;
-The division of powers among various departments.
-Organization of particular agencies through which state manifests itself.
-The extent and duration of their authority.
-The modes of appointment or election of public functionaries.
-The constitution of the electorate.
We should mention here the Montesquieu's division of power theory. According to Montesquieu; the authority of legislation, the authority
of administration and the authority of jurisdiction must be separated from each other. These theories affected for a very long time the
modern legal systems. Although nowadays it is discussed however still it has a very distinctive power on legal theory.
As you can see our constitution with the general principles has accepted this division of powers. The legislative authority is regulated
under seven article 7, executive administrative authority and governing authority regulated under article 8, and the judicial authority is
regulated under article 9 of our constitution.
As for the article 7 8 and 9; The Grand National Assembly of Turkey is decided as the legislative power and it cannot delegate its power
to a third party.
The executive power is given to the president of the republic and the council of ministers. (we do not have that council we have the
president of the republic) and
The judicial power is given to the independent and impartial courts of the Turkish nation.
We also have some relevant regulations about the freedom of legislative power. It says that; “no other authority can impose any kind of
decision or any kind of suggestion on the judicial power”.
“Legislative and executive organs and administration shall comply with all the court decisions; and they have to respect all the decisions
and cannot delay the execution of the decisions.
Fundamental rights and freedoms chapter; It is related to the human rights law of the constitution law. Fundamental rights and freedoms
are not only regulated as the rights for the citizens but also as a duty for the state. Fundamental rights are all protected by the constitution,
they cannot be limited, they cannot be taken away. However they are not also absolute. All of the constitutions have some limitations on
these fundamental rights but there is a greater interest of the public and the state especially during a kind of terrorist or a kind of condition
that will lead to anarchy. This is also to protect benefits of the public and other fundamental rights of the other individuals.
Under Turkish constitution you can see the personal inviolability, corporeal and spiritual existence of the individual, the forced labor,
personal liberty and secular security, the privacy and private life, freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of residence and
movement, freedom of communication, freedom of thought and opinion freedom of expression, freedom of science and arts, freedom of
praise, the rights on the collective label labor, the the freedom to work, the freedom to contract, the social and economic rights, the
protection of the family the right to property. Those are all definite fundamental rights that are protected under the law.
Also there are some duties like; the duty to pay taxes, duty for national services right to vote (it is a right and also a duty). Those are all
regulated under the fundamental rights and freedom part of the institution.
What do you mean when you say spiritual existence of the individual? Kişinin dokunulmazlığı, maddi ve manevi varlığı. Personal
inviolability corporeal and spiritual existence of the individual. So you are protected not only in material way but also in your spiritual
sense.
These are generally regulated very similar in most of the continental countries and also you can say in united states and so. Because
fundamental rights are very similar. The general principles are mainly reflects if it is a federal state if it is a republic or if it is a secular
state or an islamic state or those are all given generally under just similar topics.
Effectiveness and changing chapter; Generally the constitution making, governments are the institutional governments, they constitute the
state. So the main constitution of a state a country should not be easy to alter should not be easy to amend. But if you close all the ways to
amend it then that constitution will fall back from the current developments. Therefore there has to be a balance for the protection of these
rules and also there has to be a way to amend all these rules.
Under this effectiveness and changing chapter we see all these constitutions, all these regulations; how we apply these rules regulated
under the constitution, why will they come into force and how can we amend them. This will give you the procedures and the quora-
quorum it means the percentage that you need to amend an article for the constitution. They are all regulated under this final chapter in
the effectiveness and changing.
Clarity
Brevity
Comprehensiveness
Flexibility
Declaration of rights
Independence of judiciary
Directive Principles of State Policy
-Clarity; which means the articles of a constitution must be clear for a regular ordinary citizen to understand. If you make a very complex
and very high language constitution then an ordinary citizen may not be able to understand. Only the legal scholars or some people that or
maybe even the experts can only understand. However a constitution is as you see actually about the very relationship of the citizen and
the state and the duties of the state and the freedoms and the rights of the citizens and the duties of the citizens. So it should be easy for an
ordinary citizen to understand.
-Brevity; The constitution should not be too long or too short. It should be on a point that covers the necessary ,essential topics like
politics, philosophy, the organization of the state, the duties and the relationship between the state and the freedom of the rights of the
citizens. It should cover all those issues. It should not leave any open part to interpret. However it should not be too long trying to cover
all of the issues. All relevant topics can be covered by the law or any other bylaws directives and so on but it should be short enough to be
able to understood but long enough to cover necessary points.
-Comprehensive; which means it should be applicable to all of the state. If there's a federation then the federation should be governed
with this constitution by giving the relevant references to the relevant federative legislation.
-Flexible; which means it should be able to amended and applied to any necessity any necessary condition and could be amended when
needed.
-Declaration of rights; the fundamental rights of the citizens must be declared within a good constitution.
-Independence of Judiciary; There has to be the respect to the independence of the judiciary if you want to have a modern and good
constitution.
-The Directive principles of the state policy; must be regulated and the constitution should give some directives to the governors while
applying while using their authority over the citizens. So it should also protect the rights of the citizens.
-The written constitutions are very hard, very difficult to amend and this will just end up constitutions being very far beyond the
current necessities. In other words some written constitutions cannot answer the requirements of the date and that will result with
the performance of the state not fulfilling the necessary requirements of the citizens.
You should have some articles that allows the constitution to be amended but in a way that also gives it a suitability. It is very
hard to constitute a constitution therefore. That is why we have some regulations specific which can now can be altered and
regulated under a constitution but also some of the fundamental rights application of some fundamental rights or some duties are
just left to the laws cause.
A constitution is the source and main document that governs the state. But it should leave place for laws and codes or acts.
So the constitution should be as clear as definite as short as to protect all these duties and fundamental rights of the community.
But also should be able to regulate all these issues and leave an area to the court to regulate the application and the performance
of that duties and rights.
Therefore we do not see the 150 years old written constitution. Maybe American constitution is something very similar to that
but they also have lots of amendments in it.
Frame constitutions; here the name speaks for itself. The frame constitution means the constitution is regulated only in a frame
way. It is very short. In a very frame type of concept regulate all these fundamental rights and duties and actually explain the
necessary regulations. Therefore it is always easier to find a middle way between the frame and regulatory constitution.
CONSTITUTIONALISM
The rule of Law
-Aristotle; mixed system of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy
-Charter of Medina
-Magna Carta
-The Us Constitution: Government san and should legally limited in its powers and its authority or legitimacy depends on
its observing these limitations.
-French Constitution
Corpus juris civilis; Why is it related? The roman law is the very first law that tries to codify. (a collection of fundamental works
in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor.)
(Public law is a new area of law actually. It mainly emerged after the foundation of sovereign states. Of course before that the
public and private law distinctions were made and the scholars were discussing it. But main developments on public law
especially in administrative law are only a couple of hundred years issue.)
In legal history when we look at the main sources especially in legal education we'll all see these digests. Digests regulating the
roman law and roman empire. Before those digests we see there are some constitutions. They were actually the combination of
all legal regulations in the roman empire. Corpus juris civilis Justinian/ıustinian.
Jura which means jurisdiction; these are all latin words.
Before Justinian there are some emperors who requested the scholars to collect all these separate laws and regulations altogether.
They did it and they have “constitutiones”.These were present they are very useful for the law practitioners but only for the law
practitioners and the judges because they were pure law. They were all the norms and legal rules rules but justinian thought that
their law does not only consist of these regulations constitutiones. There are also lots of interpretations, scholars verbs, court
rulings in the legal world. He required make all these constitutiones, regulations, judgments, rulings of the judges and make one
single reference document that will be used within the empire everywhere. So we will have a harmonized legislation, everyone
will know what they will face when they do an act.
In this text they gathered all of them all together leave out the absolute and redundant laws and remove contradictions. With
these all constitutiones and scholars’ reductations and interpretations and judgments they form digests and all these seven digests
consist of these Corpus Juris Civilis. All these regulations within the roman law they all connected all together. They removed all
the irrelevant parts absolut parts, redundant laws, contradictions also removed and they all came together. After that um Justinian
also requested to form them to collect them all together and also add the jurisdiction and make a reference that will be applicable
within the roman empire. They made it and they called it the “seven digest” All of these digests are called the Corpus Juris
Civilis. These digests are used for the legal education throughout Europe within the roman empire. For a time it has been
forgotten however since the empire has the sovereignty and since the kings has the sovereignty the parts regarding the
sovereignty state all silence because the sovereignty does not want to be subject to some legal regulations. So within the corpus
juris civilis there was a distinction between the public and private law. The public law part was more related to sovereignty and
criminal law and the private law part was more related to private relations. Since the kings and empires and the sovereign powers
does not want their sovereignty to be subject to some regulation, mainly the private law part has been discussed and studied by
the legal scholars. However after the emergence of sovereign states so the sovereignty removed from the kings and emperors or
the religious, the church and so on and when it shifted to the people and the state the idea of public law started to be discussed.
The idea of separation of powers all these audits on the state audit on the governing authority has led to the development of
public law in addition to that to constitutionalism. Therefore constitutionalism is more of a recent centuries subject.
Aristotle also had an idea on constitutionalism. But now we are more referring to the legal constitutionalism which is based on
the separation of powers which is mainly discussed by the montesquieu and accepted by the French declaration of rights of men
and citizens.
After the roman empire there are some constitutionalism movements within the islamic civilizations. The charter of Medina
which is also a form of constitution which regulates an agreement and also states the duties and rights of the tribes and families
of Medina including muslims jews and pagans towards each other. This was also an example of constitutionalism throughout
history.
After that we'll see the Magna Carta as the very first example of constitutionalism in a more closer time. However of course after
magna carta it took so much time for people nearly 500 years to regulate more modern constitutions.
Magna carta is accepted as a movement of constitutionalism because in Magna Carta the principle of “habeas corpus” is
accepted. Which means the king cannot imprison, outlaw exile or kill anyone without the due process of law. This means that the
king accepts before i act i'll wait for a due process of law. In other words I accept that the law will prevail in my ruling. This was
a very big step in the forming of sovereign states and in the forming of constitutional monarchies. At first of course magna carta
was an agreement between the nobles and the king however the effects of this step did not state that it just gradually moved
towards the citizens. In the end the reforms result in the shift of the power from monarchy to the house of commons. It was a
very big moment and therefore it is accepted as one of the sources of constitution within the British Empire still in acts.
The very first example of the written constitution is seen in the American Constitution. These are more similar to our modern
understanding of our constitutions. Then comes the french constitution.
The constitutional history of turkey we see the french constitution effect very much. Our very first constitution Kanuni Esasi
dated 23rd december 1876 is actually derived from the french constitution. This constitution is very similar to the french
constitution and then comes the independence war and during the independence war the turkish Grand National Assembly
accepted a constitution dated 1921 which was very related to the foundation of a new country. Therefore the fundamental rights
of the humankind and the main responsibilities of the state were regulated in a very limited way just bearing in mind that there is
a state that is trying to just cure itself and get back on its legs again.
We had a constitution dated 1961 which is actually a source of a military coup. After that we also had another constitution dated
1982 which is also a result of a military coup. Our current constitution is this 1982 constitution however since it is the result of a
military coup this constitution was criticized very heavily by the scholars and all of the public. Therefore it has lots of
amendments. But if you should mention some of its amendments we can refer to the last amendments that has been made to this
constitution.
As for the amendment in 2001 we see that “The findings obtained through illegal methods shall not be considered evidence.
All these amendments that we mentioned here in 2001 2004 2010 and 2016 mainly done by the effect of the European Union
membership candidates and by the change in the parliamentary system.
The amendments in 2009 also includes that “no one shall be deprived his or her liberty merely on the ground of inability to fulfill
a contractual obligation”. “The family is the foundation of the Turkish society and based on the equality between the spouses”.
As you see here the equality between the supposes is introduced to the constitution.
“-Instead of dissolving it permanently in accordance with the above mentioned paragraphs the constitutional court may rule the
concerned party to be deprived of state aid wholly or in part with respect to intensity of the actions brought before the court. “
One of the fundamental rights of a human being is to be represented in the state and to be able to be heard. The state has a duty to
enhance it to enable it. Therefore the state aid given to the political parties is the result of that duty. However here another duty
and another protection for the representation before the national assembly is regulated.
As you see instead of dissolving it permanently the constitutional court may rule the concerned political party to be deprived of
state aid. In other words the constitution says dissolving a political party permanently is actually hindering a fundamental right of
the citizen.
So instead of this dissolving it permanently first you should consider it to be deprived of the state. This was a fundamental
change and amendment in the 2001
Another amendment made in 2014 includes “the removal of the cancellation of capital punishment”. “The immunity of private
life and family”. “In the case of a conflict between international agreements accepting that the provisions of international
agreements will prevail the local law” is also a fundamental amendment.
The amendment of 2010 includes “the right to individual application to the constitutional court”, economic and social council,
precautions taken to protect women that were all introduced in 2014.
In 2016 major amendments were made in the parliamentary system. Judicial power shall be exercised by independent and
impartial courts on behalf of the Turkish nation. In addition to that the grand national assembly of Turkey shall be composed of
600 members. The age for the election also decreased to 18. The dates of the elections were regulated to be held every five years.
Since the parliamentary system has changed the presidential office is introduced to the constitution. The names of the military
court of concession and military high administrative court are all removed from the article. The formation of the council of
judges and prosecutors are all regulated under the amendment so those are all the issues that we shall mention about
constitutions.
İntroduction
• ● At the beginning in the nineteen century tasks of state were limited to maintaining law
and order and defending its territory against attacks from abroad.
• ● After the industrial revolution, the task of the state has expanded. They started to provide
community services and distribution of wealth among citizens. Maintaining
order and provision of public goods and services has added into its tasks as well.
• ● For example administrative bodies have to right raise taxes or stop your car when you
drive fast. When the admins. authorities use their public power to interfere with your
private rights and interests. You also have some rights against admins. as well. 1)The
Concept of Admins.
law. When Administration is used alone, it refers to public admins. 1.2 The Differences In
Terms of Establishment
● Public admins. is established by only law or presidency. However, 7 people can establish
private admins. with becoming associations.
interest
1.4 The Differences In Terms of Determination of Activity Areas
● Public admins. law is determined by law while private one is determined by the will of founders.
● Because of the fact that it seeks public interest, public admins are not equal to other people.
While private admins relationship is based on equality principle.
● Public admins. is terminated by law while public one is terminated by will of people.
● There are basic differences between Anglo-American and civil law approaches.
○ Administrative law
• ○ Administrative courts
• ○ Court of the Jurisdictional Disputes
● As a result of the reform process that was started by Sultan Mahmud, the Supreme
Council for Judicial Regulations was set up in 1837. Turkish admins law is different from that of
Anglo-American admins law but identical to french Admins Law. İt comprises a wide range of
topics such as; personnel admins, police power , admins acts, rule-making power, actions and
contracts etc.
• ● Since 1872, admins law has been improving but still it is a new branch of public law.
• ● Substantive admins law is not fully codified in a single text.
• ● The fundamental principles of admins laws are not enacted. They derived from
private law.
● The disputes in administrative law are solved in administrative courts. 6) The Administrative
Structure of Turkey
There are two principles dominating the Turkish admins structure. They are centralization and
decentralization.
6.1 Centralization
○ Public officers are free from pressure from local powers. ● Disadvantages of Centralization
personnel.
decentralized govt.
one.
d
Name Mukhammad Zokhir work
Introduction to law Nutshell. Chapter: 7 Summary
Subject: Introduction to law
Year 2/4
Definitions:
Tax is an amount of money that you have to pay to the government that it can pay for public services.
Valuation is a judgment that someone makes about how much money something is worth.
Tax loss is a loss sustained by a company that can be set against future profits for tax purposes
Invoice is an itemized list of goods shipped or services rendered, stating quantities, prices, fees,
shipping charges etc.
Installment is one of the portions, usually equal, to which a debt is divided for payment at specific
intervals over a fixed period.
Fee is the amount of money that a person or organization is paying for a particular job or services
that they provide.
What is tax? is a pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the
government activities. It is an enforced contribution to legislative authority. To sum up, it is required
payment to the administration not voluntarily.
The tax comprises of ruler’s regulation mutual rights and liabilities arising from tax relationship
between state and citizens.
Personal Income Tax (PIT) is levied on the income of individuals according to personal income. In
the application of income tax, partnership is not deemed to be separate entities and each partner is
taxed individually on his/her share of profit.
• Direct tax
• Individual income tax elements listed below.
• Business profits: A person must have a permanent establishment in Turkey and income must
result from business carried out in this permanent establishment.
• Agricultural profits: agricultural activities yielding income must take place in Turkey.
• Salaries and wages: services must be rendered or accounted for in turkey. Fees, allocations,
dividends, auditors, and liquidators of the establishment situated in Turkey must be accounted
for in Turkey.
• Income from independent personal services: independent personal services must be
performed or accounted for in Turkey
• Income from immovable property rights (rental income): Immovable must be in Turkey.
Rights considered as immovable must be used or accounted for in Turkey.
• Incomes from capital investment: investment of the capital must be made in Turkey.
• Other incomes and earnings without considering the source of income: The activities or
transactions generating from other income, specified in the PIT law, must be performed or
accounted for in Turkey.
• Corporate Income tax: is levied on the income and earnings derived by corporations and
corporate bodies. Try to distinguish between CIT and PIT
• Corporations and corporate income tax bodies are listed below
• Capital companies and similar foreign companies
• Cooperatives
• Public enterprises
• Enterprises owned by foundations societies and associations
• Joint ventures
In order to be taxed those corporations must be situated in Turkey.
Indirect taxes
Taxes on Good and Services is
• Turkish taxation system comprises several indirect taxes including; "Value Added Tax(VAT)",
"Special Consumption Tax", "Special Communication Tax", and "Banking and Insurance
Transaction Tax”
• 1) Value Added Tax (VAT) Turkish tax system levies value added tax on supply and
importation of good and services. You pay this tax when you buy something.
• When a person performs commercial, industrial, agricultural or independent profession
activities that we mentioned above with in Turkey
• When goods services are imported to Turkey.
• VAT tax payer are defined In VAT law as those engaged in taxable transactions, irrespective
of their legal status or nature and their position with regards to other taxes. Those people are
responsible to VAT are:
• Supplying goods and services
• Importing goods services
• Required to complete customs formalities in case of transit of good through Turkey
• General Directions of postal services (Telecom, Radio, Telecommunications)
• Organizers of any kind of chance and gambling
• Organizers of shows, concerts, sporting events
• Lessors of good and rights
• 2) Special Consumption Tax is levied only once at one stage of consumption process of the
good with the scope of four lists. These four product groups that are subject to SCT are different
tax amount or rates.
Banking and Insurance Transaction Tax. (BITT) The subject of this tax and taxpayers is
transactions and services performed by banks, bankers, and insurance companies.
Tax on Property In turkey main taxes on property are inheritance and gift tax, property tax, and
motor vehicle tax.
• Both local and foreigners are subject to inheritance and gifts tax on assets located in Turkey.
The items acquired as gift or through inheritance are subject to progressive tax rate ranging from
10% to 30% and 1% from 10% respectively. Inheritance and gift tax are payable over 3 years.
• Motor vehicles tax paid in two equal installments annually in the begging of January and July.
But different class like airplane and helicopters, are paid in the beginning of the year January.
Motor vehicles are classified into three categories in terms of motor vehicle tax:
• List 1: cars, motorcycles, and terrain vehicles etc.
• List 2: minibuses, panel vans, motorized caravans, busses, trucks, etc.
• List 3: planes and helicopters.
And the amount of tax for vehicles determined according to its ages and number of seats, capacity
weight.
But for planes and helicopters, is determined according to its maximum take of weight.
Other Taxes
• Stamp tax, including contracts, agreements, notes payable, letters of credit and guarantee, financial
statements and payrolls.
• Betting Tax, including lotteries and other forms of gambling. Taxation period for gambling tax is
each month of the calendar. Gambling tax in not deductible for income and corporate tax purposes
• Custom Duty tax includes good that imported from abroad, circulation of goods. Registration of
customs declarations, and temporary importation. Tax payer is a person who declare to the customs
office, and customs duties taxes must be paid in 10 days dating from notification.
• Different types of Tax according to Law 492. Including, judgment fees, notary fees tax judgment
fees, Title deed fees, consulate fess, ships, permit of license, passport fees etc.
Enise Özüdoğru-Melike Belkıs Türkmen
Civil law: the law that regulates social relationships within the community/Every social and
economic activity within the society.
Under the civil law we have specific laws that regulates specific areas such as Turkish Civil Court
which is the main court that all the civil relationship and civil legal relationship will be referred to
and have Turkish Code of Obligations and Turkish Commercial Code. In Anglo-Saxon law, there is
no separation like that.
Turkish Civil Code is divided four main books:
1.The law of persons
2. Family law
3. Law of succession
4. Law of property
The code of obligations forms the fifth part of the Civil code but has its own separate chapters and
sections for the sake of convenience.
Burden of Proof
Article 6: Burden of proof, this principle means that every part of the legal dispute is obliged to prove his/her
assertion.
Article 7: Prove by formal documents,
Classification
1. Real person: human beings
2. Legal person: a group of real persons who come together individually or bring their capital or skill for a
common social political and commercial pupose or a property assigned for those kinds of purposes and
acquire personality within the precursors of law.
a. Private Law Person:
i. Community of persons: society (association), commercial companies
ii. Community of property: foundation
b. Public Law Person:
i. Community of persons: public administration (state, private provincial administrations,
municipalities, villages)
ii. Community of property: public institutions (universities,TRT, social security, etc.)
Real Person/Personality
Persons are the main subjects of private law. The relationships of person in matters such as the creation and
termination of personality. When we look at persons we look at how they obtain personality, how they lose
personality and their capacity.
How they obtain/beginning of personality: Personality of a human being starts at the moment birth. The
children are deemed to have legal capacity a certain degree of personality on condition that the child is born
alive.
How they loose personality/ending of personality: The personality of real persons end by means of several
ways. The natural way is death. The other legal ways ending legal personality are absence and death
presumption.
absence: A person may be declared absentee if s/he missing for 5 years and no news from him during
5 years or if s/he has been lost in a dangerous circumstance and has not been found within a year. The property
of the absentee passes to his/her successors contrary to death with a provision of guaranteed period. If the
dismissed person comes back in 15 years(in case of missing at least 5 years) or in 5 years (in case of lost in
dangerous circumstances) they would give the whole property back to owner. The guarantee period ends the
date of the 100 age of absentee in all cases. When applied for absence, judge will Wait 6 month then made the
declaration.
Real Person/Capacity
Capacity to acquire rights (hak ehliyeti): (Art 8) is given all real persons as long as they born alive. Starts
from the moment that they were within the womb of the mother.
Capacity to act (fiil ehliyeti): (Art 9) Capacity to enter into actions/Capacity to be liable for torts/Capacity
to sue
Conditions
i. to attain majority: you are over 18 or with marriage
ii. maturity: to be able to fair judgements, to able to decide what is good or bad and right or wrong.
iii. not to be interdicted (legal incapacity): a person who is under guardianship or mental incapacity is
considered as interdicted therefore they cannot have capacity to act.
*Capacity to act is general because every persons are subjected to the right. All real persons are equal in the
content of acquiring rights and it is passive. You do not have to do anything except being born.
Legal Persons
Communities of persons of goods that can obtain rights and duties which have come together in order to realize
a specific purpose.
Conditions of Divorce
Adultery: Any sexual intercourse with a person other than his or her spouse by a married person is defined as
adultery.
Desertion: Cohabitated home without any legal cause.
Attempts against life, extreme cruelty
Felonies and dishonoroble life
Incurable insanity
Disorder of marriage
Two other fundamental grounds:
-If a previous action for divorce on various grounds has been rejected.
-Divorce by mutual agreement
Consequences of Marriage
About nationality, A spouse who demands the nationality of her Turkish husband after 3 years marriage,
acquires Turkish nationality by marriage
About property&assets, During the marriage, parties should cohabitate in a place or home that arrange by
them. With the marriage both of the parties are under the duty of cohabitation, support, asistance and fidelity.
The husband and the wife are free to regulate their pecuniary relations during the marriage within the limits.
About majority, Marriage makes the spouses major
About children, By the marriage, children are legitimized who born during the marriage, even 300 days after
the termination
Law of Succession (Book three)
It is about inheritance. The passage of person’s property rights after his/her death.
Conditions of being a succession:
-Being alive at the date of death of the deceased
-Being one of the legal or testate successor
-Not to be debarred from inheritance
-Not losing the inheritance rights
Interstate Succession
If the deceased has failed to make a will or provide for the distribution of his/her estate at this death, it will be
distributed among his/her next of kin. The first parental consists of the descendants of the deceased, second
parental consists of the ascendants of the deceased and the third parental is grandparents of deceased.
Rules apply to the operation of system of parental:
-As long as one member of parental is living at the death of the deceased, the more removed parental will be
eliminated.
-Children born outside of marriage have the same rights of inheritance from their mother as other children
-Adopted children are treated the same as legitimate natural born children of the deceased
-The surviving spouse shares the estate with living blood relatives of deceased if any.
Reserved portions
-Descendants: Their reserved portion is the half of their statutory share (take 1/2 of share)
-Ascendants: Father and mother have a reserved of one fourth of their statutory share (take 1/4 of share)
-Surviving Spouse: According to co-parental, with whom he or she participates the estate, has changeable
reserved portion. Or three quarters of the statutory portion with inheritince the third parental.
a)Together with the first parental of deceased, surviving spouse takes 1/4
b)Together with second parental of deceased, surviving spouse takes 1/2
c)Together with third parental (grandparents) of deceased, surviving spouse takes 3/4, if there is no
grandmother takes the whole.
-All with first & second parental 3/4 with the rest
Property (res)
1. Material of physical asset
2. Economic value
3. Suitability for possession
4. Not related to human body
5. Determinable
Types: Movable/immovable properties
Parts: Principle property/Component part/Accessory
Types of ownership
1. Sole ownership
2. Ownership in common
a. Joint ownership (shares)
b. co-ownership (no shares)
Acquisition
-Original acquisition
-Acquisition by transfer of title/posession
Law of Obligations
Narrower sense, obligation refers to monetary debt and in a broader sense obligation is a duty in a unilateral
relationship that one party will have towards the other party. Subjects will be creditor and debtor. Creditors
have the authority to request some performance from the debtor. Performance is to give, to do or not to do.
Sources (origins) of obligation
1. Contracts
2. Illegal acts (torts)
3. Unjustified enrichments
Legal Transactions
1. Unilateral legal transactions-example: declaration of the will(vasiyetname) there is only one party that
declares the will
2. Multilateral legal transactions
a. Contract: Parties have one way obligation like agreement of inheritance. One party promise to do
something and the other one accepts it. However, sometimes both parties may be under obligation. For
example, in sales agreement one part has the obligation to sell his house and the other has the obligation to
pay.
b. decision: Obligation of parties toward a common point.
1. Contracts
In order to have a valid contract there has to be an offer and acceptance. There are 6 elements required for
contract to be valid enforceable by law
-A valid agreement
-Parties with capacity to contract
-A legal cause
-A legal subject matter
-Based on a real genuine consent
-Made in the form (if required so by law)
Types of Contracts
-for the transfer of the ownership: sale/barter (goods must be similar) /donation
-for the use of property: lease/loan of object for use(the owner will leave the object to the user without payment
and the user will give it back when his necessity has ended)/loan
-for works and services: service/construction/distribution/proxy
-for conservation: bailment (the main object of this agreement is an immovable property, so the bailor will
keep the object in a safe place and the other one will pay)
-for guarantee: suretyship(kefalet)
-for luck and fortune: gambling and betting(obligation in these contracts cannot be enforced, you cannot go to
a court for gambling. If he pays you are lucky, if he does not nothing to do)/life annuity(the time that one party
goes under the obligation to make periodical payments to another party until end of his life)/support for life(the
one party will get payment to support the other’s life but the payment does not need to be periodical)
-of association: company contracts
2. Illegal Acts/Torts
Tort means a civil wrong arising from an act or failure to act independently of any contract. Under Turkish
law different kinds of responsibility are accepted. There is a dual system; concept of liability for something.
And responsibility with something. Illegal acts are usually defined to express the liability for something.
There are four elements of d:
-Damages
-Adequate causality
-Illegality
-Fault: intent/negligence
Results: compensation
Results of an obligation
In order to say an obligation has fulfilled there has to be a performance. This performance must be carried out
personally. This performance must be carried out fully, partial performance may not be accepted by the other
party and you cannot force anybody to accept a partial performance. The performance must to be made on the
place that has been decided. The performance should be at the same time on the date of the agreement, but
parties may decide to otherwise. You may request a proof of payment from the receiving party.
Plea of non-performance: Both parties have duty toward each other.
As a result of Non-Performance
-You can ask for specific performance that you have decided within the contract
-You may ask action for compensation
-You can request cancellation of contract
Default of debtor: maturity(due date) / caution(kusur)
End of an Obligation
1. Execution
2. Lapse of time
3. Release
4. Barter
5. Renewal (the obligation ends but now there is a new obligation)
6. Objective impossibility (force majeure(act of god like earthquakes etc.)/unexpected case)-if are able to
perform the obligation after wait a time it is not objective impossibility.
CHAPTER: 8-INTERNATIONAL LAW
International law has lots of different areas. It deals with different topics.
The law of war and peace
The law of sea
The law of environment
The law of crime
The law of human rights
The law of international organizations
The law of multinational enterprises
The law of non-governmental organizatiıons
The law of individuals
When we look at the state from the point view of political science;
The historical form of state may be referred to maybe the times of Sumers
and Egypt.
2.1 Territory;
Defined area of surface land + airspace above + territorial sea; earth dimension aerial dimension and the
maritime dimension.
It is the safe place that the state has the competence its law. Within that place the population gave up
some of their freedom in order to be in safety within that space, territory. The state includes not only the
lands the earth itself but also the air above and some of the sea that is coastal to that territory.
Standard: 22,224 km
Territorial sea: sovereign territory of the state
Contiguous zone: from territorial sea 24 NM: can prevent infringement
Exclusive economic zone: from territorial sea 200 NM: control on all the economic resources
Turkey: 6 NM
The territory that is accepted as the 12th nautical miles from
its territorial sea baseline. The territorial baseline and 12
nautical miles from the baseline is the territorial sea of the
state. Within this area (red) the state has all the competence
just as the land itself. Not only the lands but also the air
above and the seabed below. This is called the territorial sea.
Within this territorial sea, within the 12th nautical miles
the states will allow only the innocent passage through it. However it has the ultimate sovereignty.
Additional 12 nautical miles to the first 12 NM; a total off 24 NM is the continuous zone. Within this
continuous zone the state has the ability to prevent or punish any infringement of its customs fiscal
immigration or central laws. So if there is an infringement there within this 24 miles it can prevent or
punish but only 12 nautical miles it has the sovereignty, it has the competent authority.
With the additional 176 miles, a total of 200 nautical miles. It is the exclusive economic zone which means
the coastal nation; the nation that is residing here in this area has the authority to fish, mine, explore oil
or gas and everything within these area. However this coastal state cannot prohibit passage or loitering
from above or below this area if that passage is in accordance with the regulations accepted by the UN
convention. Within this exclusive economic zone the state is able to conduct petroleum or gas drillings or
link submarine cables or pipelines for its continental shelf. All these areas include not only the sea itself
but the airspace above and the sea below. All these regulations are applicable to those conditions.
Of course there are some exemptions because there will be not enough space for these 12 nautical miles
or 200 nautical miles and of course there will be wider spaces okay that is also accepted. If there is a wider
space, you can use further areas but it can never be less than 200 nautical miles. However there will be
very close regions within the sharing neighboring countries just like Greece and Turkey. Then you cannot
use 12 nautical miles because if you accept 12 nautical miles just like in the case of Greece and Turkey
then the Greece will be limiting the free passage of Turkey to the international waters which actually has
its own way by being a coastal state in the Mediterranean sea. Therefore there are conflict between Greece
and Turkey.
The main issue that at the very beginning of these measurements the territorial waters were accepted as
the 2 nautical miles then it become three nautical miles then six nautical miles. Now it is international
accepted as 12 NM. When it was three nautical miles there were no problem and at the end of the WWI
it was three nautical miles but as the time passes the Greece requested 12 nautical miles to be applicable.
However it is impossible for Turkey to accept that because if Turkey accepts if will lose all its passages
from the Aegean Sea to the mediterranean sea.
Therefore Turkey is always requesting let's make an agreement on these seas and on these islands.
However Greece is not somehow accepting this offer. Another problem is about a continental shelf and
another problem is about the demilitarization of the aegean islands. At the end of WWII as a result of
Lozan treaty and Paris treaty, Greece has been given lots of islands although most of them closer to the
Turkey's borders , Turkey's coastline however it is the agreement we accepted. But still the main condition
for this kind of separation was demilitarization. Greece also breaches these agreements and mainly claims
that the Turkish boards and Turkish military are trespassing its lands. Therefore there are lots of conflicts
between two militaries and as also the airspace.
These are the main disputes between two countries.
2.2 Population:
The human element
Generally, nationality, citizenship are the links between state and population. We should not understand
the nationality as the nation format but more of a citizenship. Each state offers this citizenship through
specific criteria that it accepts through its constitution or relevant regulations. However in order to
establish that criteria there has to be a genuine link between the person and the state that is granting that
citizenship. This criterions generally refers to the parents nationality or place of birth or sometimes you
may see the land that you own in that specific state. However they are always accepted through some
specific international law principles.
In Turkey the nationality is given through the parents nationality. But in the USA the nationality is given
according to the place of birth; when you are born within USA's borders you are accepted as an american
citizen. However that country may also accept the parents nationality as well. So it doesn't have to be one
single criteria.
Citizenship is not a one-way relationship. It is a responsive relationship between the individual and the
state and it gives mutual duties. For instance a tax duty is the duty of the citizen towards the state but also
providing health care services and protection is a duty of the state towards the individual that is its citizen.
Not only real persons but also legal persons such as companies have nationality wherever their head office
states they have that nationality.
For example just Unilever’s head office was in the Netherlands so they were called they were referred as
a dutch company but they moved their head office to the London then referred as an English a UK
company. The ships or airplanes may also have the nationality according to which flag they carry.
2.3 Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the existence of a political organization that exercises its authority over the territory and
population. The sovereignty means the superior power that has the ability to make laws and rule in
accordance. Sovereignty was actually the Aristotle but also within the French jurists Jean Bodin
mentioned sovereignty in a more modern sense. According to him sovereignty means the supreme power
of the state over citizens and subjects unrestrained by the law. Therefore the sovereign determines who
exercises the power. “The supreme political power vested in him whose acts are not subject to any other
and whose will cannot be overridden is the one with the sovereignty”
Duguit says that the commanding power of the state is the will of the nation organized in the state. It is
the right to give unconditional orders to all individuals in the territory of the state.
Burgess states that original absolute ultimate power over the individual subject and all associations of
objects again it is called as the underived and independent power to command and compel obedience. We
have very different definitions. From the point of Jean Bodin we understand the sovereignty and the state
is more related to the morality. However when we look at the writings of Machiavelli especially to his
“prince” we see Machiavelli takes the sovereignty power in an ultimate level that requires everything is
possible to protect that sovereignty. You will see John luck or Montesquiou try to define the sovereignty.
However all these ideas represents some specific characteristics of the sovereignty. There are six of them;
Absolute
Permanent
Universal
Inalienable
Cannot be divided or shared
Exclusive
1- The sovereignty is absolute. There is no greater power than it.
2- It is permanent. It lasts as long as the state lasts. The change will be to the government who use that
sovereign power it may change but the state has the sovereignty. This is also reflected in the international
law and very related to its characteristics of universal acceptance.
3- The sovereignty of the state is universal. In other words if a state is not accepted as sovereign
internationally then it cannot be accepted as a state. Also no association or group of individuals can have
power within the territory of that state because the sovereignty is absolute and universal. Sovereignty
makes no exception and grants no exemption to anyone.
4- The sovereignty is inalienable also because we cannot separate the state and the sovereignty. If the state
leaves its sovereignty apart then it seems to exist. It has to be a sovereign state. Otherwise it will be just
destroyed.
5- Sovereignty cannot be divided between or shared by a plurality. Therefore there is always only one
single united sovereign.
6- Sovereignty is exclusive. It means that it cannot be shared with any other party.
Week 11
The second part of (State Chapter) Kinds of sovereignty
1- Internal and external:
The internal sovereignty is within the territory and the power of state over its population. And the
external is the ability of state to exercise its authority over other states outside its borders.
2- Real and Nominal: We see such case in the modern monarchies such as UK and Denmark as the
queen is the nominal sovereign while the parliament is the real sovereign. The legal sovereign is always
determinant and definite, you know who he/she is.
3- Legal / political / Popular: Legal is about the ability to enact law and regulations, and he has the
authority to accept or change the rules. The legal sovergnity may reside in one single person(monarch)
or it may be reside in group of people like the democratic people. The legal sovereign should be
organized precise and known to the law(should be legal). The legal sovereign has the power to declare
the terms of the will of the state alone. Disobedience to the legal sovereign entails physical punishment
(imprisonment...etc).
Only legal sovereign is the source of the determining rights and it has the right to amend some of them,
in other words taking them back.
The authority of the legal sovereign is absolute, illimitable and supreme. So, it cannot be commanded by
anyone
4- de Jure (legal sovereignty ) / de Facto(fact): de Jure is the sovereignty taken by legal way while de
Facto is the sovereignty taken by force which means illegal way. But is the sovereignty of de Facto
sovereign took a lot of time then it will turns to de Jure sovereign either by changing the law or by
accepting the sovereignty of the de Facto.
Nation is a modern phenomenon while the state exited since the ancient times. Nation is racial and
spiritual context while state is political and legal context. State can have more that one nation.
State is
formed by heterogeneous groups of people while nation is formed by homogeneous groups of people.
State and government:
Government is part of the state and its power is driven from the law and rules of the state. The
government is temporary and visible because we can see who rule the state. State is permanent and
abstract(invisible) institution and the state has existence of the mind of the people.
Theories of state: 1-Voluntaristic theory(the main one):_ It has three theories: Social contract, automatic
theory and hydraulic hypothesis._ Automatic theory: with the rise of agriculture and the existence of
surpluses people stated to have free time to think and expertise justice, and this lead to the formation of.
Interdependent society and from it the state will emerge.
_ hydraulic hypothesis: The farmers who were trying to support themselves by irrigation and for doing
so they found it is easier to submit voluntarily to the richer and that led to the form of interdependent
society and that formed the state.
Social contract (by Jean-Jacques Rousseau): Human kind is free and they give up some of their freedom
to survive and to reach happiness and hegemony. In the ancient social contract theory, individual was
born free and he decides later sacrifice part of his freedom to have state. While in the modern theory of
social contract, the individual is bored as member of the state form the beginning and he is educated by
the particular characteristics of his nation and state before he will be able to express his own will to
accept that social contract. So, there is kind of force which leads individuals to accept the social contract.
The hoca says this theory is essential because it may be seen even in other theories of state. For
example, the coercive state can start in this way but after long time it does not continue without the
voluntaristic or the willingness of people to carry on. Similarly, in the environmental theory we may see
people accept voluntary to form a state according to their environmental conditions otherwise it does
not succeed.
2- Coercive theory: Coercive power forces people to form a state. Violent domination and the right of
stronger.
3- Environmental circumscription: When the environment forces people to form kind of state. For
example, harsh landscape forces people to immigrate as united nation and fight together it settle in
another place.
4- Political evolution: Political enhancements throughout of history of mankind.
TURKISH COMMERCIAL LAW
Commercial law is a branch of law that deals with commercial activities concerning production, interchange
and consumption. ( commercial relations and organisations)
Turkey has separate commercial law which mainly regulates commercial enterprises.
a- commercial enterprises: any person who operates a commercial undertaking even only in part under
his/her own name is called a merchant. The person who is running the commercial establishment
individually is accepted as a firm. The consequences of being merchant as following:
relations.
b- business associations: there are two main types of companies, one is sole traders that is a type of
the company in which personalities of partners, their commercial standings, economic powers and
assets remain at the forefront and the second capital company is a group of investors who gain
income from wealthy people who want to grow their wealth. Example types of companies are
collective, commandite, joinstock, limited and cooperatives.
c- commercial papers: (negotiable instruments ) are the bills in which the rights under them cannot
be claimed or transferred to third parties without the using these papers.
d- transport business: regulating transportation law as an independent chapter in one of the
fundamental reforms implemented by the TCC. ( divided into six parties )
e- maritime law relates to trade and navigation at sea and legal transactions about ships and shipping.
f- insurance law: the insurance act deals with issues such as management, organization, operational
principles of insurance companies and intermediaries in Turkey. An insurance contract means a
contract under which the insurer promises, in exchange for a premium, to indemnify a loss caused by
the materialization of the danger having the consequence of harming the interest, measurable money,
of concerned person or to effect payment or to fulfil other performances based on the lifetime or
upon the occurrence of certain events in the course of the lifetime of one or several persons.
LECTURE
--- If you do not operate a commercial enterprise, you are not a merchant and the codes are not
applicable for you.
1- Commercial freedom and application of TCO;the way that code of obligation applied.
the limitation of commercial freedom, rights are usually determined by provision of general regulations
including code of obligation or civil code. In order to protect the rights of third parties, there are specific
restrictions. First parties may not include competitors but consumers.
2- Unfair competition: the abuse of commercial freedom and rights regulated under the concept of unfair
competition. Commercial code protects lawful benefits of a person who acts with care in his commercial
relations. If he or she is careless, they will not be protected. As a general, this is regulated under the principle
of Prudent Businessperson.
3- Special Form: The form of commercial transactions and acts are regulated by the compulsory articles,
therefore, in specific notifications and denunciations, we may need specific forms used.
• - the consequences related to violations of the commercial obligations have more serious results
than obligations derived from other legal relations.
• - Commercial and civil courts are specialized in this commercial matters, legal conflicts about
commercial relations.
• - The legal conflicts about commercial relations are used in Commercial Courts which are civil
courts, specially authorized to solve commercial disputes.
• - Commercial law is applicable to a special group of professionals called ‘merchant’. The scope of
law is limited with the business transactions which are the legal acts constructed at least by one
dealer. If at least one of the parties of the transaction is a merchant, it is presumed that the
transaction is a ‘ commercial affair’.
TERMS:
MERCHANT: is someone who owns or runs a store, or who buys and sells goods for profit.
ENTERPRISE: can be defined as describing an organizational unit, organization, or collection of
organizations that share a set of common goals and collaborate to provide specific products or
services to customers.
COMPETITION: is an event in which many people take part in order to find out who is the best at a
particular activity.
INSURANCE: is an insuring or being insured against loss; a system of protection against loss in
which a number of individuals agree to par certain sums(premiums) periodically for a guarantee that
they will be compensated under stipulated conditions for any specified loss by fire, accident, death,
etc.
BANKRUPTCY: is a legal recognition that a person, organisation, or company does not have
sufficient assets to repay its debts.
CRIMINAL LAW
Someone buy computer from computer company, if he did not pay it, it is not a crime
If some person buys lots of computers and he said I will pay tomorrow and he did not pay. This is a
crime and the computer company can go to the criminal court.
Cutting electricity by Tedaş is not a punishment, it is the result of a contract.
Culpable homicide: Kusurlu cinayet (kız arkadaşını öldüren atlet)
Criminal Law has two distinct branches that are general provisions and specific provisions. Crimes
and punishment have always been the subject matter of criminal law scholars. Several theories
which try to find a fair relation between crimes and punishments are constituted. There are three
main theories that are classical school, positivist school and mixed theory. Classical school used in
early history and positivist school just arrived in a more recent history and mixed theory used
throughout the world.
Classical school: A man essentially a moral creature with an absolute free-will to choose between
good and evil.
*Absolute justice theory: eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. It is such a retributivist (intikamcı).
Burada kişi için adil olmayabilir çünkü cezalandırılan kişiler topluma daha sonra fayda
sağlayabilecek kişiler ancak cezalandırılınca toplum onları kaybediyor.
*Social benefit theory: In this theory, it is said that when a wrongdoer is punished it is already too
late because there is no social benefit. Burada ise adalet kavramı açısından sıkıntı var. Toplum için
yararlı olan şey kişi için yararlı olmayabilir.
*Compound theory: The punishment should have both justice and social benefit.
Positivist school has two approaches
*Repressive: After occurrence
*Preventive: Before occurrence
Mixed Theory: When the crimes are more economic, natural aspect should be deal with more
positivist manner and the law must be more compassionate. However, when there is a heinous
crime. It must be punished in classical theory.
Definition of crime: A crime is an act which is against the law and is punishable by law.
In order to understand the concept of crime, it is necessary understand of the concept of the
‘’TORT’’
When there is crime (fiil suç olarak belirlendiğinde) there are four elements in classical school.
Legal element: Kanuni unsur, tipiklik. It is related to the main principle: There has to be legal
regulation in order to call there is a crime.
Material element: Maddi unsur. There has to be action. For instance, when you think of killing
someone that is not a crime because there must be an action. There must be causation between the
action and result (illiyet bağı). For instance, if someone stole stone and after that the window broke
but the reason is the earthquake.
Conscious negligence: Offender in fact recognizes the real risk of harm but underestimates it or
overestimates his own capabilities, trusting that harm will be averted.
Unconscious negligence: Offender does not think of the possibility of harm because of a lack of
care.
The punishments can change according to intent. For instance, if there is a criminal intent, the
offender took harsh punishment.
Unlawfulness: The act must not be legitimate by any grounds of justification.
a-) execution of statutory provision or execution of superior orders: According to the Turkish
Penal Code 24, If someone fulfills an order that is given by authority, there should not be
punishment for him. However, if the order includes crime, both executor and ordered will be
responsible. ((1) Kanunun hükmünü yerine getiren kimseye ceza verilmez.
(2) Yetkili bir merciden verilip, yerine getirilmesi görev gereği zorunlu olan bir emri uygulayan
sorumlu olmaz.)
b-) Self-Defense: The person try to protect himself from dangers. ( (2) Gerek kendisine gerek
başkasına ait bir hakka yönelik olup, bilerek neden olmadığı ve başka suretle korunmak olanağı
bulunmayan ağır ve muhakkak bir tehlikeden kurtulmak veya başkasını kurtarmak zorunluluğu ile
ve tehlikenin ağırlığı ile konu ve kullanılan vasıta arasında orantı bulunmak koşulu ile işlenen
fiillerden dolayı faile ceza verilmez.)
c-) Exercise of a right: No punishment is given to anyone who uses his rights. (1) Hakkını
kullanan kimseye ceza verilmez.)
The new Turkish Penal Code approach is a little bit different.
Material element: act/result/causation like above and there are also perpetrators, victims and objects
of crime.
Moral element refers to intention and negligence. However, intent and negligence are not types of
guilt but ‘’wrongful conduct’’.
Types of Crimes
Crime may be classified in different ways. For ex crime against body or crime against property.
Turkish criminal law is classified based on three different variables; depends on target. Offences
against the person, offences against the state and offences against property. Sanctions
Turkish Penal Code provides two different type of sanctions: Punishment and Security
Measurement
Punishments also divided two: imprisonment and administrative fines.
İmprisonment:
• ● Heavy life imprisonment: Until death of convict under strict security measures
• ● Life imprisonment: Until death of convict
• ● İmprisonment for definite period: unless exceptions definite imprisonment punishment
may not be less than 3 month and more than 20 year. For one or less than one year
considered as short-term imprisonment. Short-term imprisonment may be converted into;
o ○ Administrative fine
o ○ Reimbursement
o ○ Education, improve personal skill etc
o ○ Prohibition from traveling
o ○ Seizure of some rights or license like driving license
○ Voluntary employment
There are some consequences of exercise of imprisonment man became disqualified
• ● Certainty
• ● No crime by tradition or custom
• ● No crime by executive acts
• ● No crime by interpretation by analogy
• ● No crime by retroactive application
Principle of Non-Retroactivity
A punishment could not be applied to a crime which has been held on in the past. The aims
of the punishment: there are two main purpose: