Between the Banner Government Office and the Countryside: Social Structure and Judicial Practices in the Otog Banner of Qing Mongolia

Abstract

　Although the “banner-league” system was introduced into Qing-Period Mongolia (1635–1911), historical and regional diversities remained in Mongolian society. This paper explores the social structure and judicial practices of the Otog Banner from Qing Mongolia, with a focus on the period from the mid nineteenth to the early twentieth century.

　This paper first examines the social structure of the Otog Banner, focusing on administrative organization, social class, and the status system. In the Otog Banner, the banner chief and the banner government office together functioned as the central government authority, where officials worked in two-month shifts with three groups. Various officials resided in the countryside, dealing with matters that occurred in rural areas. The status of nobles remained and the nobles exercised power over commoners.

　In the second part, this paper analyzes cases involving divorce, disputes over a domestic animal, illegal arrest, and suicide. These cases reveal that civil disputes tended to be resolved locally by officials in the countryside, while criminal cases tended to be judged at the central government office. However, not all civil disputes were dealt with through official trials, but some were handled by arbitration or mediation in the countryside.

　The third part of the paper is dedicated to an analysis of the procedures of court trials in both the countryside and the banner government office, and to the problems associated with the justice system of the Otog Banner at the time. To reorganize the existing judicial system, the league issued a regulation which stated that first, a suit must be submitted initially to the captain, to whom the plaintiff belonged. If the captain could not handle the case, he could report the case to his senior officer, the lieutenant colonel, who would then report the case to the banner vice-commander, his superior. In this way, a case would finally reach the banner government office; and second, the regulation prohibited those nobles and officials who were not granted with judicial authority from judging cases in the countryside.

　The conclusion highlights the specific characteristics of the social structure and judicial practices in the Otog Banner by comparing the Otog Banner with the Alasha Banner and the Kharachin Right Banner.