A Sınırname was a type of document in the

Ottoman empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, representing an area of land; similar to a modern

title deed A deed is a legal document that is signed and delivered, especially concerning the ownership of property or legal rights. Specifically, in common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right ...

, although often describing a larger area such as a village or district, rather than a single residence. A ''sınırname'' would be granted by a higher authority - even the

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

. It would describe the boundary of the land. A sınırname might be issued like a land grant, or it might be issued following resolution of a border dispute (for instance, by a kadi). ''Sınırname'' also described land usage; they were parallel to the system of

defter A ''defter'' was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire. Etymology The term is derived from Greek , literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat parchment used along with papyrus ...

s which were used for taxation.

References

Land management in the Ottoman Empire Property law {{law-stub