"They will not suffer while habituating to subordination and justice": participation of the Kazakhs in the Orenburg boundary commission (1799-1869)

This article debates the participation of the Kazakhs in the activities of the Orenburg Boundary Commission - the main authority in charge of relations with the Kazakhs Junior Horde in the first half and in the middle of the XIX century. Indirect control and management was one of the ways to integrate the national remote regions in the Empire, and such control was a synthesis of the local traditional political and legal forms with the similar Russian forms, followed by a gradual displacement of the local laws and regulations. The system of border management is the most typical manifestation of such changes. Border authorities consisted of the representatives of the vassal territories and the Russian administration, resolving mutual claims and disputes on a parity basis. The Orenburg Boundary Commission acted like this authority in relations with the Kazakhs. The representatives of the Kazakhs, first chosen by the Khans and Khan’s council, had to defend the interests of Kazakhs held liable for crimes against “native” Russian nationals, and to participate in the resolution of civil disputes (commercial, land-related, etc...