The article deals with Тatarskaya sloboda (The Tatar suburb) phenomenon in the cities of Russian Empire mainly in the Volga-Urals region in the late XVIII-early XX centuries. These city districts’ administration greatly differed from the classical Moslem cities’ administration, ruled by the qadi, where vakfs possessed the majority of land tenures. Тatarskaya sloboda did not constitute an integral territorial unit. The parishes (mahallas) were the main structural elements in the Tatar suburbs.