Family And Hereditary Relations In The Oirat Legal Artifacts

Abstract

The paper provides a comprehensive historical and legal overview of the norms that governed family, matrimonial, and hereditary relations in the Oirat legal artifacts of the 17th–18th centuries, thus allowing for an insight into the formation and development of legal family and inheritance institutions in the early statehood. The following legal artifacts are analyzed including Ik Tsaajin-Bichig 1640, Decrees of Galdan Khuntaiji, the Toktols of Donduk-Dashi. The paper gives a rationale for the role of secular, canonical Buddhist and ancient Mongolian law in the design and development of family and inheritance law. Marriage is one of the oldest legal institutions of the Oirat society, with marriage relations to be originally regulated by customs. Ancient Mongolian legislation on marriage and family had a significant impact on the most important legal institutions of the Oirat society in this field. The personal and property rights of spouses lay behind the father’s and husband’s primacy in the family, which was shaped by the entire way of life of feudal society. Husband’s absolute powers, as established in Mongolian society by the century-old practice, remained after the resettlement of the Oirat tribes on the territory of the Russian state. The civil legal capacity of the population that is addressed by common law was determined by a system of legislation that was sophisticated in its hierarchical nature. Inheritance law was formed and developed in line with the development of private property. Inheritance relations were also regulated by Oirat legal sources that secured property to sons.