BRILL Journal ofthe Economic and Social History ofthe Orient 54 (2011) 311-352 bril1.nl/jesh The Evolution of Third-Party Mediation in Shari'a Courts in 19th- and early 20th-century Central Asia Paolo Sartori* Abstract While in the Ottoman Empire reconciling disputing parties in shari'a courts occurred without the direct involvement of state officials, in modern Central Asia functionaries appointed by the ruler's chancellery acted as mediators and mediation procedures were consistent with the state's intervention in the resolution of a conflict. This ended with Rus- sian colonization. Conflict resolution was left to the shari'a couns; mediation continued to be important but state appointees were no longer officially involved in bringing it about. The Russian colonial and Soviet administrations made the community responsible for seek- ing amicable sertlements. Only afterwards did they realize how easy this made ir for local groups to circumvent the state's supervision. Resume Dans l'Empire ottoman, la conciliation entre les parties en proces devant les tribunaux islamiques avait lieu sans intervention directe de fonctionnaires imperiaux. Dans I'Asie centrale de l' epoque moderne, en revanche, des fonctionnaires nommes par la chancellerie servaient de mediateurs et les procedures de mediation correspondaient 11 une intervention de I'Etat dans la resolution des conflits. La colonisation russe mie fin 11 cene pratique. La resolution des conflits fut desormais !aissee aux tribunaux religieux. La mediation demeu- rait importante, mais les fonctionnaires d'Erat n'y jouaient plus de role officiel. Les admi- nistrations coloniales russe puis sovietique chargerent la communaute de trouver elle-meme des solutions amiables aux conflies qui la divisaient. Ce n' est que plus tard que ces adminis- trations comprirent 11 que! point un te! systeme permenait aux groupes locaux d'echapper au contra le de !'Etat. Keywords Shari'a couns, peaceful settlement, mediation, court attendants, notables, aqsaqals *) Paolo Sartori, Oriental Institute, Martin-Lurher University Halle-Winenberg, Germany, sart.paolo@gmail.com. Research for this essay was made possible by a grant from Volkswa- genstiftung, to which goes my gratitude. I would also like to thank Wolfgang Holzwarth, Scon A. Levi, Thomas We!sford, Andreas Wilde, and the anonymous reviewers of JESHO for comments and suggestions. © Koninklijke Brill NV. Leiden, 2011 001: 10.1163/156852011X5874 16