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Author: * Khubilai Khan -
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Date: May 20, 2008 - 15:11
Imperial Laws of the Mongol Empire under Chinggis Khan
“THE GREAT YASSA OF CHINGGIS/ JENGHIZ/ GENGHIS KHAN”
"If the great, the military leaders and the leaders of the many descendants of the ruler who will be born in the future, should not adhere strictly to the Yassa, then the power of the state will be shattered and come to an end, no matter how they then seek Chinggis Khan, they shall not find him."
~ CHINGGIS KHAN ~
The Great Yassa (alternatively : Yasa, Yasaq, Jazag, Zasag) was a written code of laws created by the Great Khan CHINGGIS/ JENGHIZ/GENGHIS KHAN... It was the principal laws and legal code throughout the Yeke Monogghol Ulus – the Empire of the Great Mongols even though no copies were made available… The meaning of “Yassa” is "Order" or "Decree"… A particular principle of this code was that the nobility shared much of the same hardship as the common man…
Before there was a Chinggis Khan the tribes of Mongolia had a common law… The law was unwritten, and had showed variations for the various tribes… As Chinggis Khan rose in power and influence, the need arose for laws throughout the Yeke Monogghol Ulus that all citizens would utilize… The Yassa of Chinggis Khan is the best known, the oldest, and considered the most important Mongol Code of laws… It was compiled between 1206 and 1218, the first decade of the reign of Chinggis Khan as Emperor of the Steppes and the World… The Yassa would become the written record of ancestral traditions, customs, laws and Chinggis Khan's ideas, which were added to constantly during his lifetime… The Yassa was reported first to be published in “The Year of the Earth Tiger – 1218”, twelve years after the Kuriltai elected Temujin as the “War Leader of the Mongols”, this is where Temujin was given the title of CHINGGIS/ JENGHIZ/GENGHIS KHAN…
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it had force and effectiveness throughout the Yeke Monogghol Ulus, but it was applied only to Mongols and other nomadic peoples; not to the settled agricultural populations of the countries conquered, e.g. China, Persia or Russia…
Chinggis Khan instituted the office of Chief Judge, but Chinggis Khan appointed his harshest son Chagatai (Jagatai-baen), (later Chagatai Khan, (Jenghiz Khan) to oversee the execution of the laws in the Court of the Khan… As his appointed Judge Chagatai decided those lawsuits and other disputes that were to be brought for decision to the Court of the Khan, which later became an administrative court…
In the Court of the Khan a Woman's Social Position in general, was good compared too much of the rest of the world… A Female could freely dispose of her property and take charge of her own affairs... So anything that was written in the Yassa had to be followed exactly…
This resulted in strong discipline, which determined how the Mongols lived and interacted… The Mongol criminal law system of punishments included in the Great Yassa was simple, the penalties being: DEATH, FLOGGING with whip or rods and EXILE… A Provision for substitution of the DEATH PENALTY was RAMSON or HEFTY FINES of MONEY, LAND, SLAVES, HORSES or CATTLE and there were NO CRIPPLING punishments known…
The Mongols chief legislative instrument was the Great Yassa, supplemented by
decrees, or edicts, of the Khans… Members of the Kuriltai, the assembly or congress of the khan, ruling princes and other members of the nobility, plus highest ranking commanders could also be appointed to the Court of the Khan as Judges… According to custom, military as well as civil matters of the empire were debated by the Court of the Khan and sometimes at the Kuriltai… Although the conference only had consultative power, it was of considerable significance…
The success of the Yassa of Chinggis Khan in uniting the people that followed him was not primarily due to force and violence but on the contrary it was the personal qualities that Chinggis Khan radiated that won the heart of people by virtue of the of this man… A dominant trait in him was his ability to experience and to know deeply within that the lives of others were even more important to him than his own, and this was something people intuitively realized… By being a selfless person, he could teach them to develop the full human potential within themselves. Chinggis Khan brought to his Mongols a new element of a deeply experienced collective consciousness to live by… Chinggis Khan’s Yassa was developed into the codified form of this…
~ Next: Part 2 The Laws of the Yassa”
Khan Khubilai, Taiji {Prince} of the Buriyat Mongols
Orlok and Commander of the Keshig {Imperial Guard}, Quiver Bearers {Combat/Battle Guards of the Great Khan}
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~ Imperial Laws of the Mongol Empire under Chinggis Khan ~
Politics and War
(- threads, 33 posts)
Laws & Government
(15 posts)
~ Yassa - "Laws 1 - 10 of the Great Khan's" ~
