ROMAN LAW ELEMENTS IN THE OTTOMAN CIVIL CODE (THE MAJALLA AND AHKAM AL-SHAR’IYYAH) The Majalla represents the first official codification of civil law in the Ottoman Empire, and also the first codification of sharia law in general, most often cited as the Ottoman Civil Code, which was published in the period between 1869 and 1876. In contrast to Islamic, Sharia law, the influence of the largest legal system of the ancient world, Roman law, which is bequeathed by the development of mankind in Europe, is visible in the Majalla; while Islamic law is considered Di-vine law and fundamentally immutable, Roman law finds that law should be the highest expression of the mind (Cicero). The Code sought to achieve the unity of two different legal traditions, striving to bridge any dualism on the path to modernism, thus opening new doors for its in-depth reading and understanding, in a concrete historical background. The application of Majalla was the widest in Bosnia and Herzegovina because its norms were binding on both Sharia and regular civil courts, so the analysis of its Roman legal basis is all the more important for our own legal history. Keywords: Majalla, Ottoman Empire, Roman law, Sharia law