A kadi (Ottoman Turkish: قاضی, kadı) was an official in the Ottoman Empire. In Arabic, the term qāḍī (قاضي) typically refers to judges who preside over matters in accordance with sharia Islamic law; under Ottoman rule, however, the kadi also became a crucial part of the imperial administration. After Mehmed II codified his Kanun, kadis relied on this dynastic secular law, local customs, and sharia to guide their rulings. Along with adjudicating over criminal and civil matters, the kadi oversaw the administration of religious endowments and was the legal guardian of orphans and others without a guardian. Although Muslims, in particular Muslim men, possessed a higher status in the kadi's court, non-Muslims and foreigners also had access to the judicial system. Under the Ottomans' initial system of feudal land grants, the timar system, the kadi served as an important check on the power of the local and regional military lords. Despite the unquestioned authority of the sultan, kadis possessed a certain degree of autonomy in their rulings.
Some kadis worked at various positions within the imperial administration but typically a kadi oversaw a jurisdiction called a kadiluk, usually consisting of a city and its surrounding villages. These territories were initially identical with kazas, the subdivisions of the empire's sanjuks, and the kadi oversaw a great deal of administrative work. Over time and particularly after the Tanzimat reforms of the 19th century, the administrative tasks of the kaza were given to a separate kaymakam and the kadi became solely occupied with legal matters.
