The article analyses Soviet and modern Russian and Kazakh historyography of confrontations of different departments of the Russian Empire, regional bodies and economic organizations of Siberian Cossack Army in the question of determination of the legal status of “the Irtysh ten-verst band” in the last decade of the XIX — early ХХ century. The analysis of modern historiography allows the authors to confirm that the problem of juridical status of the ten-verst Irtish band was not an object of special scientific research. Researches of this period paid more attention to the history of the Siberian Cossack Army, its formation and development as a socio- economic structure of the Russian society. Within the framework of this direction, the Irtish ten-verst band was studied through the prism of evolution in the agrarian policy of economic organization of the Siberian Cossack Army and development of rent relations. The research is made of some of the plots of history of the ten-verst band, interethnical Russian-Kazakh and Kazakh-Cossack contacts, interethnical division of labour reflected in research of history of demographical development of Siberia and contiguous territories. In general, it can be argued that in the works of Soviet and contemporary authors the problem of determining the legal status of the Irtysh ten-verst band, debate of the central and regional authorities, the evolution of their views and positions on this issue, and the problem of land development of the Kazakh population, roaming on Irtysh lands, did not receive adequate coverage. All these aspects require special research.