The anthropology of customary legal relations and practices in the nomadic Kazakh society (18th – 60s of the 19th centuries)


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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32523/2664-5157-2024-2-23-56

Keywords:

Zheti Zhargy, Zhuginis, biler kenesi, biy, customary law, customary legal regulations, judicial system, legal proceedings, plaintiff, defendant.

Abstract

The article deals with the study of traditional Kazakh judicial system and legal proceedings. They functioned autonomously in their natural-historical state until the end of 1860’s, when the entire power-administrative system of the nomadic Kazakh society, including judicial and legal institutions, was absorbed by the imperial administration. The article does not consider courts appointed by the imperial authorities, which appeared during and after this administrative colonization. These courts introduced modernized customary legal norms and institutions. The subject and purpose of the article is limited to the study of traditional legal proceedings in its two organisational forms: the basic - zhugіnіs (roughly ‘trust appeal [to biys]’) and the basic – biler kenesi (‘council of biys’). The article analyses the judicial and procedural implementation of
customary law within each of these institutions. It notes that each such judicial process reflects the experience of many generations of Kazakh biys. This experience allows the article to present the outstanding importance of customary legal practices in the life of Kazakh society. The study of the line of behaviour and interests of participants and subjects of this process allows the article to reconstruct a mosaic socio-anthropological picture of traditional legal proceedings.

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Author Biography

Nursan Alimbay, Institute of History and Ethnology named after Sh. Sh. Ualikhanov

Candidate of Sciences (History), Prof.

Reference

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Sakkulakuly Ye., 2005. «Esіm khannyn eskі zholy» [The traditional righteous path of Khan Yesim]. Kazaktyn Ata zandary. Kuzhattar, derekter zhane zertteuler. On tomdyk. T. IV. Almaty: «Zhetі Zhargy» ZhShS. P. 145-152. [in Kazakh].

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Published

2024-06-15

How to Cite

Alimbay Н. (2024). The anthropology of customary legal relations and practices in the nomadic Kazakh society (18th – 60s of the 19th centuries). Turkic Studies Journal, 6(2), 23–56. https://doi.org/10.32523/2664-5157-2024-2-23-56

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Medieval History and Steppe Archаeology