ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the theoretical and practical implications of customary law in the Cyclades. All political links between the Cyclades and the Byzantine Empire were cut off in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, and thereafter most of the islands existed under the umbrella of the Duchy of Naxos until their incorporation into the Ottoman Empire. Focusing back on the Cyclades, the dukes of Naxos had followed the standard colonial Venetian policy of ousting all prelates and discouraging all links between the locals and the Great Church. The Cycladic legal plurality is evident in the fact that litigants were free to choose, according to their own preference, any of the available sources of justice, opting for the most accessible or the most likely favourable. A comparative analysis of the Cycladic customary systems reveals abundant local variations. By the time the Ottomans took over the Cyclades, most other Greek communities on the mainland had long since adapted to the Ottoman imperial overlord.
