The problem of reformation of the traditional judicial and legal system of Turkestan and the Steppe regions at the end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th centuries

The research is aimed to find and analyse the reasons, goals, main directions and productivity of reforming the traditional judicial and legal system of Turkestan and the Steppe regions at the end of the 19th - early 20th centuries. By the beginning of the 20th century a combination of elements of universal imperial secular justice and traditional law (the court of the biys, the Sharia trial, the adat norms, the kun institute) was a peculiarity of the legal framework of the Central Asian outskirts. Also, the judicial reform of 1864 did not gain currency there, and up to 1898 prereform judicial institutions functioned in the region. Initially, the Russian authorities consciously aspired to preserve the people's courts in the region as an indicator of their loyalty to the traditions and customs of both the settled and nomadic population of Turkestan and the Steppe regions and as a result of searching for the most optimal model for managing individual ethnoregions. The judicial system required radical reforms as the region was joining the Russian Empire, the positions of the Russian authorities became stronger, the population was growing as a result of peasant colonization, social and economic relations were developing. The research is based on a wide range of sources, most of which are first introduced into scientific use. The basis of the source database is the documents and materials found in the Russian State Historical Archive and the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan. These documents are the documents of a records management character, correspondence between officials of various departments on the issues of reforming the judicial system of Turkestan and the Steppe regions at the end of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Materials related to the preparation and carrying out of the inspection of Turkestan by Senator K.K. Palen in 1908-1909 are of significant importance. By the end of the 19th century, the existing judicial and legal system of Turkestan and the Steppe regions appeared to be ineffective according to both local authorities' representatives and central office clerks. K.K. Palen's inspection was determinative for assessing legal relations. It came to a conclusion that the standards of the Regulation of Turkestan Region's Governance of 1886 did not present changes in the region including its judicial system at the end of the 19th -early 20th centuries. Senator Palen was sure it was necessary to annihilate "people's courts" and to extend imperial judicial institutions in the region. As a result, several plans of reforming the judicial system of Turkestan and the Steppe regions were elaborated. However, the proposed reforms were of a limited character and "people's court" remained in the region's jurisdiction. The plans were approved by the central authorities but were not put into effect because of the First World War and the Revolution of 1917. The author concluded that the preservation of traditional judicial institutions and standards prevented from modern legal relations development and middle Asia outskirts integration in the imperial legal framework.

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