Articles

The Legal and Fiscal Dynamics of Land Tenure in Khorezm (the Nineteenth – Early Twentieth Centuries)

Vostok/Oriens '2015, №4

 
The article explores the legal and fiscal dynamics of land tenure in Khorezm in the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. It concentrates on the content of the long-standing discussion about existence of tax-exempted private property (‘mulk-i khāliṣ’) in the Khanate of Khiva. In the continuation of that issue, I demonstrate that the concept of land ‘yarlykli-mulk’ that was formed by Russian authors of the early 20th century and has had a decisive influence on the formation of discourse about the forms of land ownership in Khorezm in later Soviet and Post-Soviet historiography, was largely the result of incorrect interpretation of authentic documents, tangling the various legal and fiscal practices (such as land ownership and tax privileges) and probably terminological negligence.

Keywords: Khorezm, Khanate of Khiva, land property relations, milk, tax registers, fiscal privileges

Pages: С. 32–46