Traditional Kazakh court in the pages of the Russian press of the late 19th to early 20th century

This study analyzes publications on the traditional Kazakh court (byis’ court, people’s court) by Russian contemporaries who served in or traveled to the Steppe Region. These publications were featured in Russian periodicals and later included in the “Turkestan Collection”, a unique compilation of materials on Russian Turkestan and neighboring states and regions, compiled in the second half of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. The authors criticized contemporary courts but positively regarded the historical court system. The article aims to clarify the reasons behind this idealization of the ancient traditional Kazakh court: whether the authors intended to promote its practices or, on the contrary, to highlight its negative transformation and advocate for a shift toward Russian imperial judicial system. The study primarily employs formal-legal, historical-legal, comparative-legal methods, and content analysis. The author finds that the analyzed materials significantly support our understanding of courts and proceedings in the Kazakh Steppe during the studied period, which is typically based on historical legal monuments and official institutional documents.