Imperial and traditional justice systems among nomadic peoples in the 19th and early 20th centuries (on the example of the Inner Kyrgyz horde of Astrakhan province)

Abstract

Using the example of the Inner Kyrgyz Horde, the article examines the evolution of the judicial system of a nomadic society in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the aspect of the interaction of the imperial and traditional justice systems. The introduction of the population to the system of the general imperial judicial system was seen as one of the goals of the acculturation and sedentarization of the nomads. This process took place gradually, and in this regard, traditional forms of justice based on the customary law of foreigners continued to play a role. Based on the materials of the Russian State Historical Archive, pre-revolutionary literature, and an analysis of modern historiography, it is shown that the development of the judicial system of the Inner Kyrgyz Horde had its own specifics and peculiarities, compared, for example, with the Kazakhs of the Steppe regions. One of them, until the first half of the 19th century, was the functioning of Khan’s justice, but within the framework of imperial jurisdiction. The Biy Court under Khan Janger practically lost its independent significance and continued to exist as an arbitration court. After Janger’s death and the abolition of the Khan’s authority, justice was administered by the Provisional Council, a quasi–judicial body that combined administrative, executive and judicial functions. All civil cases and unimportant criminal ones could be resolved by the so-called “people’s court”, but contested in higher imperial instances. Unlike the Steppe regions, where the people’s courts were granted official status, people’s justice in the Inner Horde rather existed more at the domestic level. This shows a certain archaism of the way of life of the Inner Horde, on the other hand, the preservation of a certain freedom and autonomy of the way of life. Projects to reform the administrative and judicial structure of the Inner Horde at the beginning of the 20th century initially proposed giving an official status to the people’s Court by analogy with the Steppe regions. But then, according to the 1913 draft, a complete transition to the general imperial justice system was proposed, operating in the counties with the Russian population of the Astrakhan province.