Tsakhurs - Sociopolitical Organization



In the nineteenth century many questions of social life and local legal procedure were determined by the norms of customary and Quranic law. The decisions on familial property matters and certain civil ones were governed by Quranic law (the religious officials responsible for these matters were selected for two years). Criminal and other civil cases along with intertukhum and intra-and intercommunal conflicts were decided in terms of customary law (administered by an elder). The final word in important communal matters was held by the communal assembly, which consisted of the adult male population. The governance of the commune was carried out by a council of elders, with a leader elected for one year (who had assistants). The chief elder decided all conflicts between the inhabitants of a settlement with the help of elected judges who had the right—in addition to that of recovering damages ensuing from a case—of sentencing a guilty party to arrest, fines, or designated public service. Litigants had the right of appealing to a district court.


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