Abstract:

The 1746 law is an important statute that reflected the relationship between the customary law of Qalqa and the code of Mongγul ?aγa?a enacted by the Qing government. As the QingEmpire strengthened its control over Qalqa from the 1720s to 1730s, articles on theft and robbery in the Mongγul ?aγa?a were actively applied to Qalqa. To deter theft and robbery, the Qalqa’s nobles drew up the 1746 law by themselves without permission from the Qing government. The 1746 law was mainly based on old articles of the Mongγul ?aγa?a and supplemented with the Qalqa’s original compensation practices. It was also a workaround to deal with the problems of crime compensation and the escorting of criminals. The Qalqa vice-generals’ law is not the 1746 law. The former derived from customary law of Qalqa and had been applied in secret by Qlaqa’s nobles to settle livestock-stealing cases for a long time. The two laws represent two ways that in consideration of their own benefits and realistic needs, the Qalqa’s nobles changed the Mongγul ?aγa?a flexibly and followed customary law to tackle issues with the Mongγul ?aγa?a. Thus, the Mongγul ?aγa?a became dominant in Qalqa. Meanwhile, the customary law, while conflicting with the Mongγul ?aγa?a, still played a role in society of Qalqa through combination with the Mongγul ?aγa?a or by being applied in secret by Qalqa’s nobles.