History of Mongolian law

The article was prepared at Law Institute of Auckland University in New Zealand under the supervision of Professor Bernard Brown, and is a historiographic review of mainly Western European literature on the history of Mongolian law. Interest in the Mongolian legal system is conditioned by the significant originality of legal regulation. Comparative law paid great attention to Mongolian legal monuments, historical, religious and literary sources containing information about the legal phenomenon of the Mongol Empire. This phenomenon is also of great interest from the perspective of evolutionary development and impact on legal systems, including modern Mongolia. The most famous monument of Mongol law is Genghis Khan's code. A large number of scientists and publicists, starting from the deep Middle Ages, turned to the search and establishment of the content of this legal document. The works of Russian and Soviet historians are well known in Mongolia, but the works of most Western re-searchers are known only to a low readership. Interest in this kind of literature is determined by a deep desire to penetrate into the secret of the conquests of the great commander, and the crushing defeat of his descendants. The available data on the functioning of Mongolian law during the period of the Golden Horde, the Ilkhanate and the Yuan dynasty make it possible to identify based on comparative jurisprudence its regulatory qualities and evaluate them from civilizational perspective. Considerable attention is paid to the assessment of legal documents of the period of Manchu rule in Mongolia and their significance in the formation of the people’s legal consciousness and the modern national legal system. The traditional legal culture of the Mongols had a chance to survive, but the political processes of the 20th century effected the form and content of national law and the state due to a change in the scientific paradigm.