O. N. Had∆iƒ, Islam and culture[in Croatian], Zagreb
1894.
A. Hangi, Life and customs of the Muslims[in Bosnian],
Sarajevo 1906, 1990^3.
S. Pletikosiƒ, Arguments over the emancipation of women.
Response to Hamdija Karamehmedoviƒ, et al.[in
Croatian], Opatija 1911.Jasna Bak«i¶Mufti¶The CaucasusCaucasian legal history can be divided into two
periods: the seventeenth century to 1917 and 1920
to 1990. Until the 1920s, the legal system of the
Caucasus was a fusion of standards of≠àda, Sharì≠a,
and state law established by the Russian Empire
during the nineteenth century.Pre-Soviet period
Some communities were dominated by ≠àda
(Northwest and Central Caucasus) with Sharì≠a
family norms disseminated throughout, others by
Sharì≠a (East and Northeastern Caucasus: Chech-
nya, Daghestan, Azerbaijan). Imam Shamil’s role in
the dissemination of Sharì≠a in North Caucasus
during the period of his imamate (1834–59) was
important.
Criminal cases were heard according to the ≠àda
and, later, Russian law; civil cases were subject to
Russian legal standards. The family law norms that
regulated divorce and division of property and
inheritance filled a separate niche. This area of law
was strongly influenced by Islamic law. Elements of
Islamic land and finance law (bond norms, stale
debt, fine imposition and payment) were found
only in Daghestan and Azerbaijan.
Until the 1920s, the access of women to ≠àda,
Sharì≠a, and the Russian legal system was signifi-
cantly limited. The obstacles they faced were:
inequality of rights and duties to the communal
authority and court in ≠àdalaw; subjection of
women in society and family; influence of Islamic
restrictions on women’s participation in social life;
and ≠àdainterpretation of crimes against women
as a harm done to the group to which the victim
belongs. These groups could be kindred unions
(families of near relations, clans) or territorial unions
(communities, community unions).
In customary law, the legal actors were: man,
family, clan, community, community union. Men,
relatives and communities could stand as a legal
person in various circumstances.
With the introduction of Russian courts into the
Caucasus in the nineteenth century (Highlander372 law: access to the legal system
Verbal or Gorskiy Courts), women acquired the
right to go to Russian courts independently. How-
ever, they still faced obstacles: the narrow range of
cases tried by Russian courts and the pressure of
Caucasian and Islamic standards regarding the
social status of women. The Highlander Courts
tried virtually no cases concerned with women.
Caucasian women rarely used courts as a way to
fight for their rights.Soviet period
Soviet law introduced the concepts of domestic
crime (1920s–1940s) and useful and harmful cus-
toms (1950s–1980s). The useful aspects of custom-
ary law included such traditions as homage to
elders, mediation at negotiations, peacekeeping,
and property protection, while the harmful ones
were blood revenge and subjection of Caucasian
women.
Under Soviet law equal rights and duties for men
and women of the Soviet Union were established.
Women’s rights were promulgated among hill-
women. Propaganda campaigns were conducted to
promote Soviet law. Women gained the right to
receive higher legal education and the right to work
in Soviet judicial bodies.
The criminal code of the Soviet Union and
Caucasus of 1960 included a special category of
crimes that represented the relics of local customs
(chapter 11). There were three groups of crimes:
crimes that affront the equality of women and men,
namely payment and acceptance of the bride-price
(kalym), compulsion of a woman to marry, com-
pulsion of a woman to continue marital cohabita-
tion, obstruction of a woman’s marrying, abduction
of a woman for marriage, bigamy, and polygamy;
second, crimes that affect the physical or moral
development of non-adults of either sex, namely
marriage to an unmarriageable person or cohabita-
tion with an unmarriageable person; and third,
reconciliation evasion, blood feud murder, and
femicide “on the basis of the relics of former atti-
tudes towards women.” In 1998 a new criminal
code of the Russian Federation was passed in which
this chapter was eliminated but the blood feud
clause kept.The present
Women in the Caucasus have the opportunity to
use the state legal system for defending their rights.
Formally, Caucasian women can be both plaintiff
and defendant, although in fact fathers, husbands,
or brothers still appear for women in the courts.
Women use the state court for fighting for their