On research of 18th century Mongolian legal code ''Mongol Tsaaz Bicig''

In the process of globalization the question of the disclosure of the common and thespecific in the state legal development of peoples becomes urgent; a certain revaluation of many legal and political values takes place. Inthis case reference to the origins of state and law is quite important. Therefore the legislation of the medieval Mongolian state is of muchinterest. The scientific value of this work is determined by the close interconnection and interdependence of the historic past andpresent; the necessity of effective usage of the historic past. The article studies issues of historiography of research on the Mongoliancode of law "Mongol Tsaaz Bicig". In the scientific literature the meaning of the code is determined by the content of the two versionsrepresented in the national state archive and library of Mongolia. The scientists have thoroughly studied the first version of the codepublished in the period of Emperor Enkh-Amgalan's ruling, the structure and the sphere of application of the law were fully described.But the second version of 1795 studied partly is of high scientific interest. One of the problematic issues of the history of creating thismanuscript is dating of the main versions of this code of law. Scientists paying attention to the historic events characteristic of Mongoliaof the middle of the 17th-18th centuries define the date of the first version of the "Mongol Tsaaz Bicig" differently: 1643 (period ofEmperor Eyer-Zasagci's rule) and 1667 (period of Emperor Enkh-Amgalan's rule). Also the question of dating the second version of thecode is not clear yet; some scientists date the compilation of the code back to 1789, others - to 1795. The point of view that the firstversion of the Code was published in 1643 is based on the Chinese archival sources and is confirmed by the legislative acts of Eyer-Zasagci (1644-1662) and Enkh-Amgalan (1662-1723), the Emperors. The most veracious and proved by scientists is the variant ofdating the code back to 1643. Much specification needed on dating of the edition of "Mongol Tsaaz Bicig" of 1789. A group ofMongolian scientists who follow this point of view refer to inscription "Mongol Tsaaz Bicig" on the cover of another statute roll "HuulTsaaz Bicig", published in 1789. We suppose that "Mongol Tsaaz Bicig" is the latest version of "Huul Tsaaz Bicig". For furtherresolution of the disputable issues it is necessary to implement a comparative analysis of the Mongolian legal acts of the 18th century.Comparative analysis would let us minimize the disputable issues and make objective conclusions about these issues of history of stateand law.

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