Criticism and bibliography. Reviews

Mongolian text, transliteration of the Mongolian text.

Translated from Mong., comment. and research by A.D. Nasilova, St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie, 2002, 160 p. (ORIENTALIA)

The reviewed edition is one of the works that are still rare in modern Mongolian source studies, where philological analysis is combined with historical and social study of the material. It provides new facts about the most interesting period in the history of Mongolia in the XVI-XVII centuries, which had a significant impact on the entire subsequent evolution of Mongolian society, especially socio-economic development. As is known, B. Y. Vladimirtsov referred to the category of the most important monuments that document the evolution of the social system of the Mongols, namely legislative texts that favorably differ from chronicle materials in terms of reliability of information.

A great advantage of this work is the fact that with this publication A. D. Nasilov introduces a unique document for studying the history, language and everyday life of the Mongols of the late XV - early XVII centuries, and relatively soon after its discovery (1970) on the territory of Mongolia. This is the first comprehensive study of this monument in our history. Previously, it was only partially used (see publications by T. D. Skrynnikova, D. Gongor, and S. Natsagdorj).

Given the vastness and significance of the information contained in the monument, A.D. Nasilov's main goal was to present it in a form accessible for further research and interpret it in a way that can serve as a basis for characterizing the estate-class structure of Khalkha society of that period, the administrative structure of Khalkha, and the content of Mongolian medieval law. In this respect, a very qualified full translation of the monument into Russian (ch. III, p. 40-60), based on the publication of the Mongolian historian Kh. is of independent value for the first time in Russian science. Perlee (1974). Titles and legal terminology are mostly given in translation, while little-known terms are also given in Mongolian. The informative commentary (pp. 60-69) explains terms and geographical names, discloses proper names, and provides linguistic references. The translation gives the reader an opportunity to see for themselves the content of the laws adopted at the congresses of the major princes of Northern Mongolia in the late XVI-first third of the XVII century, and specialists can use this valuable legal monument in their work.

Chapter II of the book, which precedes the translation, contains a transliteration of the Mongolian text, which is based on the edition of X. Perlee, who performed the initial reading of the monument. Unfortunately, A.D. Nasilov was not able to reproduce its facsimile, although it would probably be difficult to repeat it from the Mongolian edition (the monument was written on birch bark and poorly preserved), and the original was not available to the author of the book. Meanwhile, when preparing the transcription of the text, A.D. Nasilov carefully checked the previously proposed reading and in many cases, if the Mongolian edition allowed it, made the necessary clarifications. The book ends with the text of the monument, typed in Mongolian graphics (p. 121-159).

Thus, the Mongolian text, transliteration in Latin graphics and translation with corresponding philological comments together allow the reader to form a fairly complete picture of the legal monument of medieval Mongolian law and use it both for specialists in Mongol studies and for anyone who deals with the history of law, primarily in the nomadic steppe states of Central Asia.

Chapter I ""Eighteen Steppe Laws "- a monument of Mongolian Law " is an introduction to the entire edition. It briefly describes the historiography of Mongolian law and the historical situation in Khalkha at the time of the adoption of these laws, as well as a description of the monument itself. The author of the study takes into account both domestic and foreign literature on the history of Mongolian law, on the law of feudal societies in general (especially of the Central Asian type). It shows how much space this legal text occupies

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among other similar sources from Mongolia and neighboring territories. Special attention is paid to the" Great Code "(1640) and the code of Mongolian laws "Khalkha Jirum". As A.D. Nasilov was able to establish, the "Eighteen Steppe Laws" were the direct written source for the compilation of the mentioned codes. This also determines the extremely important significance of the studied text for Mongolian historiography.

The author of the monograph successfully fulfilled another goal: to use these laws to clarify the socio-administrative structure of the Mongolian state and the legislative activity of the Mongols in that period. The first problem is dealt with in chapter IV ""Eighteen Steppe Laws "- a source for studying the social and administrative structure of Khalkha", which examines the estate-class structure of medieval Mongolian society and the administrative structure of Khalkha and makes an important conclusion about the presence of unified state structures in the territory of Mongolia in the XVII century, which destroys the existing historical stereotype. The second problem is dealt with in chapter V ""Eighteen Steppe Laws "- a source for the study of Mongolian law", describing the system of punishments, procedural, civil, criminal, administrative, military law. Of great interest is the section on continuity in Mongolian law, which shows the evolution of legal norms and their typology inherent in the Mongolian statehood.

A. D. Nasilov's monograph is a notable phenomenon in the national Mongolian historical and legal science, and it opens up a new wide field for further research. The range of issues reflected in them is so wide that they are of interest not only for Mongolian scholars, but also for general specialists: lawyers, social scientists, ethnographers, religious scholars, linguists.

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