Yasa

The Mongolian verb “ᠵᠠᠰᠠ, zasa” - “go, organize” and with the suffix “g” forms the noun “, zasag”.

Neither in the Mongolian original nor in the full translation of Yasa has it reached us. We know it from reports and excerpts of the Persian and Arab historians of the Mongols. This information was analyzed in detail by Josef von Hammer-Purgstal ^[3] . Similar work was performed by subsequent European historians, such as Ilya Berezin ^[4] , Erdmann ^[5] , G. Haworth ^[6] and others.

Traditionally, it is assumed that the most detailed information about the composition of Yasa Chinggis Khan is contained in the treatise of the Egyptian writer of the XV century. al-Makrizi . It was from him that all interpreters from P. de La Croix to V. Ya. Ryazanovsky and G. V. Vernadsky scooped information about the composition of Yasy.

D. Ayalon expressed the opinion that this information about Yasa is a fiction of the author. He believed that Al-Makrizi sought to defame the Mamluk government and, for this purpose, he tried to show that they included Mongolian legal norms in their laws. Other researchers adhered to the same point of view: D. Morgan and D. Egl.

I. de Rachevilz believes that Yasa existed as an oral set of prohibitions and rules, to which it was forbidden to make changes. However, Yasa did not constitute a clearly developed legal code; rather, it was a compilation of various regulations, rules and taboos established by Genghis Khan with some additions to the board of Oudei . The text of Yasy was not preserved, but many plots are known in the retelling of other medieval sources. Over time, the importance of Yasy fell due to the division of the Mongolian empire into several independent parts, in which local legal traditions had a decisive role.

Yasoy also studied P. Rachanovsky. He believed that under Genghis Khan, the so-called Yasa was a collection of records of various sayings and orders of the Khan, made on various occasions and over a long period of time. These sayings can not be considered a legal document of a systematic nature.

Sinologist V. Vasiliev , having become acquainted with Yasa on the basis of the Persian historian Rashid ad-Din , refused to see in Yasa a set of laws . In his opinion, Yasa is not a law at all, but the same as the sayings of every Chinese Bogdykhan , attributed to him and published after his death. As an example of such sayings, Vasilyev pointed to the article “Home sentences of Kangxi ” ^[7] .

The recoverable positions of Yasy can be divided into five sections:

• crimes punishable by death
• war, its conduct and military structure
• family and family structure
• meritorious valor
• various prohibitions.

The state mechanism and social order, prescribed by Yasa, is organized according to the Chinese model.

There are no reliable data on the content of Yasy, there are only its intended components, obtained from various sources. The following list is neither exhaustive, nor unambiguously reliable, and is given in translation from the book “Genghis Khan: The Emperor of All Men”, Garden City Publishing, 1927, in the book of Harold Albert Lamb:

1. It is ordered to believe that there is only one God on earth, the creator of heaven and earth, who creates life and death, wealth and poverty, as he pleases, and possessing the highest authority.
2. Priests, doctors and body washers are exempt from all taxes.
3. Subjects of the empire are forbidden to take the Mongols as slaves or servants.
4. Under the fear of the death penalty, it is forbidden to arbitrarily proclaim oneself an emperor if there is no Kurultay’s decision.
5. It is forbidden to the leaders of peoples and clans subordinate to the Mongols to wear honorary titles.

   About war:

6. It is forbidden to create peace with every leader, prince or people who did not obey.
7. All men must serve in the army, with rare exceptions.
8. All men who do not participate in the war must work for the empire for free for a certain time.
9. Organizing an army follows from detachments of 10, 100, 1000, and 10,000 people so that you can quickly assemble an army.
10. Each warrior receives his weapon from the hands of the immediate commander before the start of the march. Each soldier is obliged to monitor the state of his weapon, and the commander to check it before the start of the battle.
11. Under the fear of the death penalty, soldiers are prohibited from robbing the enemy and looting , until the commander did not give permission, and after such permission, the soldiers, along with officers, are entitled to what they got, if they paid the relevant part to the emperor.
12. Military booty should be divided as follows:
    • 3/5 got the troops
    • 1/5 got to jihangir (leader of the campaign)
    • 1/5 went to the emperor
13. For training, troops must organize a big hunt every winter, for which it is forbidden from March to October to kill deer, roe deer and other male artiodactyls, as well as hares, wild donkeys and birds.
14. Officers and leaders who failed to fulfill the task or did not appear at the call of the khan are sentenced to death. If their offense is less serious, they should personally come to the khan.

    About marriage:

15. The marriage law requires that every man buy his wife, and related marriages are prohibited. A man can marry two sisters, as well as have several concubines .
16. Anyone seen in adultery is punished with death, and those responsible for it can be killed on the spot.
17. If two families wish to unite through marriage, but have only young children, then such a marriage is allowed, provided one of the children is a boy and the other is a girl. In the event of the death of children, the marriage contract remains in force.

    About life:

18. Women should be engaged in property and household. Men should be engaged only in hunting and war.
19. It is forbidden to shed blood (even domestic animals) unnecessarily on the ground.
20. It is allowed to eat the blood and entrails of animals, although it was previously prohibited.
21. It is forbidden, under the penalty of the death penalty, to wash clothes and bathe in water bodies or to pollute them in any way.

    About crimes:

22. Stole a horse or ox or other equivalent thing, execute, and dismember the body in two. For less theft to punish, according to the value of the stolen, the number of stick strokes: 7, 17, 27 and up to 700. Corporal punishment can be avoided by paying nine times the cost of the stolen item.
23. Under the fear of the death penalty it is forbidden to give shelter, food and clothing to runaway slaves. The same applies to anyone who, having met a runaway slave, did not bring him to his master.
24. Spies, false testimonies and sorcerers to sentence to death.

    and etc.

In Turkish, the word "law" has the form "yasa" (although during the Ottoman Empire, the Turks used the Arabic word "hukuk"), and the adjective "legitimate" - "yasal".

• Steppe (Great) Code - based on Yasa (and other medieval sources), the general Mongolian code of laws of 1640.
• Zhety Zargy - Kazakh Code. Also based on Yasa, considered ^{[by whom? ]} as adat .

• Krymsky A.Ye. Yasa // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Fragments Yasy reconstructed from different sources
• Vernadsky G.V. Mongols and Russia . - USA, 1953.
• Kradin N. N. , Skrynnikova T. D. The Empire of Genghis Khan . - M .: Eastern literature, 2006. - ISBN 5-02-018521-3 .11
• Aigle D. The Great Yang of Genghis Khan, the Mongol Empire and Shari'ah // The Mongol Empire and the Nomadic World. - Issue 1.
• Ayalon D. The Great Yasa of Chinggis khan. A Reexamination (Part A, B. Ca, C2) // Studia Islamica - 1971. - Vol. 33. - P. 97−140; 1971. - Vol. 34. - P. 151−180; 1972. - Vol. 36. - P. 113−158; 1973. Vol.38. - P. 107 156. (Eng.)
• Derereux, Robert . The Yassa of Genghis Khan . // Military Review . - April 1963. - Vol. 43 - No. four.
• Morgan D. The Great Yasa of Chingiz Khan and the Mongolian Laws of the Law of the Ilkhanate // University of London, 1986. - P.163 176.
• De Rachewiltz I. Some reflection on Qing's Qas Yasay // East Asian History, Vol. 6, 1993. P. 91-104. (eng.)
• Ratchnevsky P. Die Yasa (Jasaq) Cinggis-khans und ihre Problematik // Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des alten Orients. Bd. 5 (Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur der altaischen Volker). (him.) - Berlin, 1974. - S.164 172;
• Ratchnevsky P. Cinggis-khan: Sein Leben und Wirken. (him) - S.164 165.
• Ratchnevsky P. Un Code des Yuan. Vol. 1 4. (Fr.) - Paris, 1937, 1972, 1977, 1985.