 His mother was a member of the Kevabibiye family and a daughter of Mehmed Said Efendi.Mehmet Cemaleddin was educated in Ottoman and Islamic law, and served in the Ottoman judiciary as Kadi (Chief Judge) of Constantinople in 1884.He was appointed Chief Judge of Anatolia (Anadolu Kazaskeri) in 1888 and Chief Judge of Rumelia, the European parts of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, in 1890.