The study of Court Documents Production Process during the Period of Zands Within the Framework of Political and Administrative Developments of this Period

Court documents are among the most important products of the bureaucracy system, which can be used as a valuable source for research on the history of evolution in an administrative system. This importance increases due to the lack of resources and information about Iran's administrative system during the period of Zand dynasty. Presenting some points about the political stability of this period and its effect on production process of court documents and also referring to the provisions of historical sources written about the ruling administrative system and its developments in this period, it has been tried, in present research, to provide an image of such documents production structures through the study of remaining court documents. To do so, three main structures were identified after examining the political and administrative conditions of the country during the reign of Zand dynasty and considering the time dispersion and the quantity of production of examined documents. Finally, efforts have been made to point the diplomatics of the court documents remained from the period of Zands and their apparent features. It will be shown on one hand, that along with the rise of political crises, stability and, consequently, the volume of court documents production declined, and on the other hand, the formal and content features of court documents will be described.