Prior to the arrival of Islam, the peoples of North Caucasus and Central Asia had long-established codes of legal and civil law, which in the Islamic period came to be known by the term adat. Adat in traditional central asian societies are guided by authoritative members of communities, usually councils of Aqsaqals. It is based on a tribal code of conduct and on centuries of experience in conflict resolution between individuals, communities, and tribes. In North Caucasus, the traditional value codex of adat held that the Teip ('clan') was the chief reference for loyalty, honor, shame and collective responsibility. The Russian empire's colonial administration did not interfere with local legal practices and delegated the administration at the local community level to the councils of aqsaqals and teips. So did the Bolsheviks during the first years of the revolution of 1917. The adat was practiced among the central asians and north caucasians up until the early 1930s, before Soviet authorities banned its use and replaced it with the civil law.