The source of these laws were from The Great Yasa of the Mongol emperor Chinggis Khan. However, scholars conclude that no copies of the Great Yasa have ever actually been recorded and also the evidence for the life of Temuchin/Chinggis Khan come mainly from two sources namely a Mongol source which is 'The Secret History of the Mongols' and a Persian source which is 'The Compendium of Chronicles' (Ja¯mi‘ al-Tawa¯rı¯kh).
The term yasa is a Mongol word meaning law, order, decree, judgement. As a verb it implied the death sentence as in ‘some were delivered to the yasa’ usually meaning that an official execution was carried out. Until Professor David Morgan exploded the myth in 1986, it was the accepted wisdom that Chinggis Khan had laid down a basic legal code called the ‘Great Yasa’ during the Quriltai of 1206 and written copies of his decrees were kept by the Mongol princes in their treasuries for future consultation. Source: Chinggis Khan: World Conqueror
- The claim "forbade the selling of women and kidnapping of women" is true since it was prohibited by the Mongol customary law as shown below.
The kidnapping of wives was prohibited (Genghis had lost his own wife Borte this way) as was the selling of women into marriage. Source: 1206: The Yasak of Genghis Khan
- The claim "exempted the poor from taxation" is false since the actual persons exempted from taxation were ones who provided essential services.
Those providing essential services were exempt from taxation including religious leaders, doctors and undertakers, lawyers, teachers and scholars. Source: 1206: The Yasak of Genghis Khan
The explanation provided above can also be verified by reading page 69 of the 2004 book 'Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford.