Ancient
nomadic law of Kazakhs Ancient nomadic law of Kazakhs
of al-Farabi Kazakh National
university,
The history of steppe civilizations saw many changes through various events. Although Kazakhs retained most of their values as a heritage coming form the ancient times. One of the values is customary legal system. Customary law based on the cultural and democratic traditions until XIX century play important role in regulating their lifestyle. That was caused by two factors. Fist of all, the basis of nomadic economic lifestyle formed the world outlook of Kazakhs, and secondly, the demand of the social life to form new norms and values. Customary law of Kazakhs is the monument of the rich of nomadic civilization. It is backed by centuries long history, life potential and human freedom demand. Any legal system originates from the social needs. Customary law was designed to address the solution of the complex needs of Kazakh society. Within various historical periods the legal systems aimed to regularize relations between and within nomadic states, have much in common. State structure of Kazakh khanate, system of political governance, legal relations, cultural evolutions originate from early times. Tribal confederations and their legal practices left a rich legacy for Kazakh nomadic society.
Firm tribal relations of the nomadic socium prevented development of individualistic rights. Under the tribal system, the rights of an individual were interpreted within the framework of tribal legal practices. Apart from that the military necessity to protect the tribe from external threat facilitated that factor. Each member of the tribe was to a warrior responsible for its survival. In peacetimes the legal relations were guided by common practices. They covered family and economic relations, criminal cases. Along with that there existed legal practices to settle international relations- trade and others, that proved the high level of state development. In early nomadic period, the notion of “sin/crime” differentiated from family realm, and became part of the social/public relations. Those norms formed the basis of the legal practices to settle private and public issues.
Ancient nomadic law of Kazakhs, Turkic linguistic arts produced valuable cultural heritage. Development of legal relations of nomads went hand in hand with the state formation. The Kazakh khanate inherited the legal practices of the Turkic states – code of customary law, political, criminal, civic practices regulations, and international law. The failure of the Turkic states to cope with legal problems led to their eventual decline and collapse.
In VI century, in Central Asia was formed a Turkic kaganate out
of dispersed tribes, brought together by Bumin kagan. He adopted a law on state
integrity and protection of the rights of ordinary members of society. it is
known from the Chinese sources. We should mention the articles that worked as
legal acts:
1)
The one who instigates a rebellion or riot must be condemned to death.
2)
The one who betrays the
interests of Turks is considered be the traitor and must be put to death.
3)
The one found guilty in death of an innocent person must be put to
death.
4)
Adultery with somebody’s wife is punishable with death penalty.
5)
Stealth of a horse tied to someone’s yurt is punishable by death.
6)
Injury during the fight must be compensated by ransom.
7)
The compensation for stolen horse is ten times more that its original
price [ 1].
These legal establishments on internal solidarity and integrity cemented the newly created state. The runic inscriptions of the Turkic rulers’ call to unity were extremely important for Turks. This legal monument of the first independent Turkic state testified its creation, and that law governed various problems people faced - criminal, family or economic disputes. But these legal practices could be applied only to the medieval nomadic states. The researches on Turkic states analyzed state governance methods, nomadic public relations, and developed the concept of “nomadic state”. The ideological power justified the legal structure of the Turkic state, and its norms. Civil, criminal, family, property cases were regularized. The legal rights Ashina dynasty had enormous power in the state. The law “Tore”, as the pillar of the state regime and the dominant dynasty managed them. The power of kagan was inherited by his successor. The power passed only from grandfather to grandson, and from elder brother to the younger one. The third pillar were creation of the laws to manage the state and intra-tribal relations, as the basics of the international law. These norms formed the “Tore” legal system set up in VIII century. Along with the formation of Turkic states, the “Tore” legal principle influenced other legal practices. “Tore” had the legal right for governance. The main aim was to provide state integrity, to overcome intra-tribal conflicts and contradictions, orderly arrange any relations in the socium. Turkic legal practices and “Tore” principle were continued within the further development of Turkic states and societies. From that viewpoint for present times, is very important to investigate ‘Tore” legal principle, as in XVI century Armenian-Kypshak legal code and procedural norms were based on it, and are part of the world legal heritage[2].
References:
1.Bichurin I.Y. Collection of information about the
peoples living in Central Asia in ancient times. Almaty, 1996, Vol. I, 234
pages.
2.Êlyashtorny S.G., Sultanov T.I. States and peoples of the Eurasian steppes. St. Peterbourg,2004, p. 189.