Judicial Institutions and Colonial Governance in Fergana Oblast From 1876 to 1917

The establishment of Russian rule in Fergana transformed the relationship between judicial authority, local society, and political power. This article examines the coexistence of qazi and biy courts with imperial judicial institutions between the abolition of the Kokand Khanate in 1876 and the political upheavals of 1917. It considers changes in jurisdiction, the expansion of imperial courts, the work of the New Margilan District Court, and the practical importance of interpreters and legal intermediaries. Court statistics and individual disputes reveal that imperial institutions handled ordinary economic conflicts as well as matters affecting colonial authority. Meanwhile, local courts retained an extensive territorial presence and continued to serve their communities. The article argues that judicial change produced a hierarchy of overlapping jurisdictions rather than a complete replacement of existing legal practices. This arrangement enabled colonial supervision while preserving institutions on which both the administration and the population continued to depend.