On the institution of revenge and the nature of power in Mongolian society

The article examines the issue of the nature of power in Mongolian society in connection with the existence of the institution for revenge. The tribal structure of Mongolian medieval society naturally presupposed the existence of blood feud as a regulator of social relations. The author shows that in conditions of political integration and the establishment of centralized power during the Mongol Empire, the custom of blood feud was not eliminated. With the collapse of the empire and the weakening of the power of the all-Mongolian ruler, blood feud began to be used more widely. The final abolition of the custom of blood feud and justice on the base of the law is fixed in the norms of the Mongol codes of the second half of the 16th - 18th centuries.