The _Kanuns_ were issued separately to meet special circumstances. A number of them, when collected according to subject-matter or under the name of the sultan who issued them, constituted a _Kanun-nameh_, or book of laws. Each department of the government had its own _Kanun-nameh_, and the laws of taxation for each _sanjak_ were collected into a separate group.[535] It is incorrect to think of a _Kanun-nameh_ of Mohammed II or of Suleiman as bearing any resemblance to the codes of Theodosius or Justinian. Not in magnitude, scope, character of contents, authorized unification, or prevailing authority can any comparison be made. The _Kanun-nameh_ of Mohammed II seems from its opening words to have had his sanction as a collected body: “This is the _Kanun_ of my fathers and ancestors, according to which my successors shall act from generation to generation.”[536] These words themselves show, however, that the contents were not a unified body, but a collection of _Kanuns_ issued at different times by former sultans as well as by the one who was reigning; and an examination of the contents bears out the statement. Nor does the collection possess completeness in any sense. The first of the three parts deals mainly with the relative rank of officials, the second with a miscellaneous lot of usages, chiefly ceremonial, the third with fines for some serious offenses and with the salaries of some great officials. The whole code is brief and shows great economy of legislation. THE LEGISLATION OF SULEIMAN