DOI: https://doi.org/10.36719/2706-6185/57/131-134
Emil Guliyev
Nakhchivan State University
Master's student
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1908-3474
quliyeffemil321@gmail.com
Formation of Legal Relations and Multi-Source Legal System in
Azerbaijan in the Early Feudal Period
Abstract
This article examines the features of the formation of legal relations in Azerbaijan in the early feudal period and analyzes the multi-source nature of the legal system of that period. The study shows that legal relations in the region were not formed as a monolithic system based on a single source of law, but as a result of the parallel activities of various legal institutions. The administrative-legal management model of the Sasanian state had a significant impact on the institutionalization of feudal relations by determining the legal foundations of land relations, tax obligations and social hierarchy. The analysis of legal sources such as “Mātikān-i Hazār Dādestān” proves that the law of the early feudal period was casuistic and precedential in nature, that is, the existence of a legal model based on real judicial practice.
The study also shows that church-canon law operated alongside state law in Caucasian Albania, and the canons of the Agwen Church Assembly regulated family, property, land use and social relations. Although the application of Islamic law after the Arab conquests introduced new elements into the legal system, local customary law and church law did not completely disappear. As a result, the legal system in Azerbaijan in the early feudal period developed as a multi-level legal model based on the interaction of Sasanian law, Albanian church law, Islamic law, and local customary law. This model had a significant impact on the formation of the legal traditions of the later medieval Azerbaijani states.
Keywords: early feudalism, Sasanian law, Caucasian Albania, church-canon law, customary law