Rutuls - Sociopolitical Organization



Political Organization. All adult men of a Rutul settlement formed a village assembly, which met obligatorily once a year in the beginning of spring and otherwise when needed. The assembly discussed conflicts about land, renting of communal land, repairing and building roads and bridges, and agricultural projects. The gathering elected the administration of the settlement: the headman, bailiffs, herald, and land overseer. The headman was chief of the settlement community ( jamaat ): he looked after the communal land, apportioned labor conscriptions, saw to the execution of decisions of the assemblies, and fulfilled a judicial function in conflicts and appeals. For his labors he received a certain payment from the villagers and part of the fines. He had to give an account to the assembly. The aldermen were elected from among the prominent tukhums. An administrative status independent from the village gatherings belonged to special blocks of the settlements, the mekhle, which already in the nineteenth century no longer represented a mere coalition of relatives.

Conflict. All kinds of legislative procedures were based on adat and Sharia. The adat system was applied mainly to criminal cases, whereas Sharia regulated cases connected with religion, family relations, and property inheritance. A kadi, an effendi, or a mullah (various grades of Muslim cleric) considered cases within Sharia; the headman and the gathering considered cases within adat. There also existed a court of arbitration, the maslaat. Civil and military control over all Rutul settlements was in the power of the divan, the council of headmen ( aksakals ) headed by a beg.


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