On the elder court of biys: russian pre-revolutionary historiography of the issue (XIX – beginning XX c.)
Abstract
The article considers the issue of the elder court of biys in Kazakh traditional society, which was covered in the works of Russian pre-revolutionary researches. Fidelity of biys to their duty guaranteed good fame, resulting in the granted authority and material reward called «biylyk». In addition, every biy looked forward to expand the margins of his judicial practice beyond his own aul. Hence, there were no material values that could guarantee the recognition of biy’s jurisdiction beyond his subordinate tribe, as the nomadic society had a specific character and tolerant attitude to wealth. A. I. Dobrosmyslov considered the power, wealth and ancestry as the main criteria for the community when electing the biy. According to the conducted analysis, the author concludes that historiography has two exact antipodes of the opinion upon that issue: the first considers moral qualities of biys as the basis for establishing the elder court; the second considers force, power and wealth of the tribal community. Such diversity in opinions about biys arises from wide responsibilities of this key figure of Kazakh traditional society.
- Key words: biys, the elder court, historiography, traditional society.
