The Making of the Turkish Civil Code

Abstract

The adoption of the Turkish Civil Code based on the Swiss Civil Law on October 4, 1926, was probably the most important movement of the legal revolution that followed the Turkish Revolution. In other words, it was one of the most significant steps taken toward the modernization of Turkish society. The new Turkish State departed from its religious foundation and instead was built on secularism. These laws laid the blueprints for a new society by reconstituting the basis of private law through the introduction of new regulations in the laws of persons, inheritance, property, and family. Two major difficulties were encountered during the process of adopting this Civil Code. The first major difficulty was inherent in translation, initially arising from their translation and further complicated by the Turkish language reform in the 1930s. The second major difficulty was the resistance that the new Civil Code received as a result of its radical changes in the regulation of family law. However, we argue that Turkish society, which has a culture of its own, has over time adapted itself to these new laws. Therefore, a significant conclusion that can be drawn from the modernization process in Turkey is that civil law rules can be successfully adopted by a country even when they come from different cultures and societies. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.