Novye Issledovaniâ Tuvy (Mar 2019)
Russian-Uriankhai court at the time of Russian protectorate over Tuva
Abstract
The article analyzes the problems of legal regulation of social relations between Tuvans and Russians in Tuva under the protectorate of the Russian Empire, and of resettlement of Russian peasants to the region in 1914–1917. For our sources, we have used unpublished materials from the State Archives of the Republic of Tyva, the Research Archives of the Tuvan Institute for the Humanities and Applied Socio-Economic Studies, as well as some other collections. The regime of the protectorate assumed Tuva’s dependence on Russia in foreign affairs, while allowing it to maintain internal autonomy. Administrative control was in the hands of the Irkutsk Governor-General, but the system of administration itself had not change, and neither did the position of the noyons, their powers and the effect of customary law. Russian immigrants claimed plots of land in accordance with private agreements with officials or wealthy Tuvans, and since 1912, the Resettlement department had also been involved. However, the uncertainty of the legal status of migrants complicated their position in Tuva. The article provides examples of numerous peasants’ complaints about their land disputes with Tuvans. Grievous crimes perpetrated by a member of one ethnic community against that of the other, or within the Tuvan community, were reviewed by the Russian Volost’ Court, and those less severe, by the Uriankhai court. In 1915 a mixed Russian-Uriankhai court was set up, composed of elected representatives of the Russian community and local authorities. The newly-established mixed court failed to fully resolve land disputes, but had a positive impact on the Russian-Tuvan relations.
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