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Yassa (alternatively: Yasa, Yasaq, Jazag, Zasag, Mongolian: Их засаг, Yehe Zasag) was a secret written code of law created by Genghis Khan. The word Yassa translates into "order" or "decree". It was the de facto law of the Mongol Empire even though the "law" was kept secret and never made public. The Yassa seem to have its origin as decrees issued in wartime. Later, these decrees were codified and expanded to include cultural and life-style conventions. By keeping the Yassa secret, the decrees could be modified and used selectively. It is believed that the Yassa was supervised by Genghis Khan himself and his stepbrother Shihihutag who was then high judge (in Mongolian: улсын их заргач) of Mongol Empire.[1] Genghis Khan appointed his second son Chagatai (later Chagatai Khan) to oversee the execution of the laws.
The Yassa decrees were thought to be comprehensive and specific, although no Mongolian scroll or codex has been found. There are records of excerpts among many chronicles including Makrizi, Vartang, and ibn Batuta, among others. Moreover, copies may have been discovered in Korea as well. The absence of any physical document is historically problematic. Historians are left with secondary sources, conjecture and speculation, which describes much of the content of this overview. Historical certainty about the Yassa is weak compared to the much older Code of Hammurabi 18th century BCE or the Edicts of Ashoka, 3rd century BCE. The latter were carved for all to see on stone plinths, 12 to 15 meters high, which were located throughout Ashoka's empire (today's India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan). The Yassa, thought to be written in the Uigur Mongolian script and scribed on scrolls, was preserved in secret archives and known only to and read only by the royal family. Beyond being a code of laws, the Yassa may have included philosophical, spiritual, and mystical elements, and thus may have been thought of as a quasi-sacred or magic text.
The exoteric aspect of Yassa outlined laws for various members of the Mongol community such as soldiers, officers, and doctors. The Yassa aimed at three things: obedience to Genghis Khan, a binding together of the nomad clans, and the merciless punishment of wrongdoing. It concerned itself with people, not property. Unless a man actually confessed, he was not judged guilty.[2] The purpose of many decrees was probably to eliminate social and economic disputes among the Mongols and future allied peoples. Among the rules were no stealing of livestock from other people, sharing food with travellers, no abduction of women from other families, and no defection among soldiers. It represented a day-to-day set of rules for people under Mongol control that was strictly enforced.[3]
The Yassa also addressed and reflected Mongol cultural and lifestyle norms. Death via beheading was the most common punishment save for when the offender was of noble blood, in which case the offender was killed without shedding blood. Even minor offences were punishable by death. For example, a soldier would be put to death if he did not pick up something that fell from the person in front of him. Those favored by the Khan were often given preferential treatment within the system of law and were allowed several chances before being punished.
As Genghis Khan had set up an institution that ensured complete religious freedom, people under his rule were free to worship as they pleased, as long as the laws of the Yassa were observed.
Many sources provide conjectures about the actual laws of the Yassa. The Yassa was so influential that other cultures appropriated and adapted portions of it, or reworked it for ends of negative propaganda. (For instance, the number of offenses for which the death penalty was given was famous among contemporaries of the Yassa.) However, Harold Lamb's Genghis Khan: The Emperor of All Men quotes a translation by François Pétis de la Croix. Although unable to come upon a complete list of the laws, he compiled several from Persian and Arabic chroniclers, Fras Rubruquis, and Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, among other sources. Those laws are listed here:
Verkhovensky reports that the Yassa begins with an exhortation to honor men of all nations based upon their virtues. This pragmatic admonition is borne out by the ethnic mixture created by Genghis Khan in the Mongolian medieval army for purpose of unity (Ezent Gueligen Mongolyn), the United Mongol Warriors. The origin of the word Mongol, "mong", means "brave". Thus, at the time, it may have meant as much an army of "the brave", as an army from or made up of people from Mongolia.
Ogedei Khan, the 3rd son of Genghis Khan and the second Great Khan, proclaimed the Great Yassa as integral body of precedents, confirming the continuing validity of his father's commands and ordinances, while adding his own. Ogedei codified rules of dress, conduct of the kurultais, the military council. His two immediate successors followed the tradition of the Yassa.
The Mongols in various parts of the empire began to add laws more appropriate to their area.
The word "custom" is called "Yoso" (Ёс) in modern Mongolian language which is equivalent to "yassa".
In the modern Turkish language (as used presently in Turkey), the word "law" is yasa, and the adjective "legal" is yasal (the word hukuk, of Arabic origin, is also used, especially in Ottoman Turkish).
The word "Yasa" or "Yassa" is existent in both Mongolic and Turkic languages. It is believed that the word comes from the Mongolian verb "zas-" or "yas-" which means "to set in order". "Tsereg zasakh" is a phrase commonly found in old Mongolian texts like the Secret History that means "to set the soldiers in order" in the sense of rallying the soldiers before a battle. The supreme executive body of the present-day Mongolian government is called the "Zasag-in gazar" which means the "place of Zasag", the "place of order". Zasag during the Qing dynasty referred to native provincial governors in Mongolia. The local office called Zasag-in gazar served as a court of first instance and included secretaries and other officials. The verb "zasaglakh" means "to govern" in Mongolian. The Turkic verb "yas-" which means "to spread", probably originated in Uighur Turkic and was firstly used by Uighur Turks.[4]
Islam, Yuan dynasty, Golden Horde, Buddhism, Chagatai Khanate
Justice, Canon law, Sociology, Common law, History
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Mongol Empire, Mongolia, Yuan dynasty, Jin dynasty (1115–1234), Western Xia
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Law, Sociology, Jurisprudence, Émile Durkheim, Psychology