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Abstract. The article is an analysis of history of the trial of Kazakh sultan Barak executed by four biys (people’s judges) in 1748. This case was not studied in details before, especially by historians of law. Meanwhile, it is a striking example of the crisis of the khans’ justice in the Turkic-Mongol states including the Kazakh Steppe as it was an offence against the principle of exclusive jurisdiction of ruling family over khans and sultans – direct descendants of Chinggis Khan. There is a retrospective historical and legal analysis of trials over members of Chinggisid dynasty in the Turkic-Mongol states. Also the reasons of gradual decline of khans’ justice system in the Mongol Empire’s and the Golden Horde’s successive states (including Kazakh Khanate and Kazakh zhuzes of 17th–18th centuries) are clarified. The situation in the Kazakh Steppe of the first half of the 18th century influenced on the decision of sultan Barak to appeal to the biys’ court, not khans’ or sultans’ one, is analyzed. The formal legal analysis of the biys’ court in this case (its membership, decision and its consequences) is realized. The source of research are historical chronicles of the Medieval and Modern Ages as well as official documents of the Russian Empire which reflected substantial transformations in the political and legal life in the Kazakh Hordes (Zhuzes) of the first half of the 18th century including traditional institutions of power, administration and justice which were succeeded by the Kazakh Khanate from the Golden Horde.
Keywords: Kazakh Steppe of the 18th century, traditional law, court of biys, Mongol Empire, Golden Horde, Russian Empire, Chinggisids, khans’