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The BalkansThis entry focuses on the successor countries of
the former Yugoslavia with an emphasis on the
Bosniaks. Bosnia and Herzegovina formed part of
the Ottoman Empire from 1463, when Sharì≠a
courts were introduced to the southern Slav lands,
till the 1878 Berlin Congress, which accorded the
administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the
Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Austria-Hungary
passed legislation applying Sharì≠a law to Muslim
women in Bosnia and Herzegovina in family and
inheritance matters, as a result of which the Sharì≠a
courts were incorporated into the Dual Monarchy’s
state judiciary. Based on the provisions of the
Treaty of St. Germain on the protection of minori-
ties, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia retained state
Sharì≠a courts for matters of family and inheritance
law affecting Muslims. Access to the legal system
was not uniform throughout the region – there were
six legal systems, the result of the different histories
and legal systems in the various parts of the coun-
try. In addition, the social role and legal status of
women and men was determined by the dominant
patriarchal cultural matrix, the impact of which
still survives to this day.1918–40: Kingdom of
Yugoslavia
In this period, Sharì≠a courts were administra-
tively a division of the civil courts, but in reality
they constituted a separate entity within the state
authorities, independently applying separate laws
to a specific group of Yugoslav citizens. In their
organization, character, staffing, and judicial prac-
tice, they were of the type of modernized judicial
institutions to be found at that time in Muslim
countries, and were the best system in the Balkans:
this was because the Muslims were so numerous
and because they had their own specialist law
schools. Sarajevo had a Sharì≠a judges’ school
(1887–1937), founded by the Austro-Hungarian
authorities, and an Islamic Sharì≠a and theological
college (1935–45) for higher education in these
subjects. From 1931, a specialist course in Sharì≠a
law was offered by Belgrade’s Faculty of Law. The
operation of the Sharì≠a courts was influenced by
the half-century’s experience of encountering Euro-
pean administration.
Muslim women’s status in marriage was similar
to that of women from other religious communi-
ties, to whom the Austrian Civil Code applied.
Freedom of movement and public activity were
contingent on their husbands’ approval. Muslim
women had the right to manage, enjoy, and freely