According to the Islam Law, the state had the right to seize the prosperity of the people.

In the Islam States, the prosperity gained in the governmental affairs were considered as the public prosperity. First Ottoman confiscation was made in the Sultanate of Mehmed the Conqueror, in 1451. The Candarli Family’s prosperity was seized by the government. The main aim of this practise was to invite the government officer’s to honesty by indicating they could not have left anything to their heirs after their deaths.

In the 16^th century, only a part of the prosperity was confiscated. The death or executed viziers’ money, valuable things, weapons were left to the government but the lands were given to their heirs.

In the 17^th century, the province administrators applied confiscation to the wealthy people of their provinces, to sent the Sultan valuable gifts. For this reason many innocent people had been accused and killed. Sultan Mahmud II declared that with only a judicial decision the confiscation could be made. After the declaration of the Reform Decree, this application was abolished.

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