This paper uses Russian archival sources to outline the Russian and Soviet intervention into the legal systems, and therefore the society, of their subjects in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Among other topics, it discusses criminal law, family law (the bride price, polygamy, etc.), and the Soviet attack of the veil (hujum). It also discusses the treatment of kazi (qadi) courts and Islamic law as well as bii/biy, manap, and aksakal courts and customary law.
Sections: Introduction; Before 1917; The Soviet Approach; What Types of Conduct are Singled Out?; The Legislative Implementation of Soviet Policies; Some Statistical Data; The Legal Provisions Concerning Traditional Crime; Postscript on the Post-War Situation
Comments: 2/9/10
Here is an intertesting quote from page 10 by Lenin at the 8th Party Congress in 1919:
"What can we do with regard to such peoples as the Kirgiz, the Uzbek, the Tadzhik, the Turkmen, who until now are under the influence of the mullahs? . . . Can we go to these peoples and say: 'We shall throw out your exploiters'? We cannot do this, because they are still under the influence of their mullahs. In this case we must await the evolution of the nation in question, the differntiation between the proletariat and the bourgeois elements, which will inevitably take place."Descriptors: 1970s, archival, F, history, Islamic law, journal, law, reform, Soviet, Tsarist
