Full Description
In Justice in PrintConsistency in Late-Ming Casebooks, Ka-chai Tam argues that the prefectural judge in the judiciary of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) became crucial to upholding justice in Chinese society. In light of two late Ming casebooks, namely the Mengshui zhai cundu ( ) by Yan Junyan and the Zheyu xinyu ( ) by Li Qing, Ka-chai Tam demonstrates that the late Ming judges handled their cases with a high level of consistency in judicial reasoning and practice in every type of case, despite their differing regions and literary styles. Equipped with relative institutional independence and growing professionalism, they played an indispensable role in checking and guaranteeing the legal performance of their subordinate magistrates.
Contents
AcknowledgementList of Tables1 Introduction1 The Principal Question2 Some Basic Facts about the Ming Legal System and Legislation3 The Main Sources of the Current Study: Judicial Casebooks from the Ming4 The Methodology and Plan of This Study2 Prefectural Judges in the Late-Ming Judicial System1 Development of the tuiguan Post in Late Imperial China2 The Role of Prefectural Judges in the Late-Ming Provincial Bureaucracy3 Prefectural Judges' Responsibility to Oversee the Courts of the County Magistrates4 The Role of Cooperation between Prefectural Judges and Other Provincial Officials in Maintaining the Quality of Judicial Rulings in the Provincial Judiciary5 Professionalism and Insistence on Independence of Prefectural Judges in Performing Their Judicial Duties3 Favorable Institutional Circumstances for the Development of Judicial Professionalism1 The Impact of the tui zhi xingqu Promotion Route and the Importance of Frontline Officials' Good Judicial Performance2 The Increasing Demand for Junior Officials' Uniform Judicial Performance3 The Increased Importance of Judicial Rulings in the Civil Service Examination since the Late-Wanli Era4 The Emergence of the Late-Ming Casebooks and Their Importance to Our Understanding of the Ming Judiciary1 Why the Late-Ming Casebooks Matter2 Development of the Chinese Casebooks Down to the Late-Ming Period3 The State of Studies on Ming Casebooks4 The Importance of Mengshui zhai cundu and Zheyu xinyu to Our Comparative Study of the Legal Development of Late-Ming China5 Two Exemplary Samples of Late-Ming Casebooks by Prefectural Judges: Mengshui zhai cundu and Zheyu xinyu1 Publishing Judicial Casebooks as a Key to Success2 Yan Junyan, the Promotion-Seeking Casebook Writer3 The Publication of the First Impression of the Mengshui zhai cundu in Light of the Prefaces by Cantonese Literary Leaders4 The Southern Ming Hongguang Court and the Publication of the Second Impression of the Mengshui zhai cundu with the "Foreword" by Li Yue5 Li Qing, the Profit-Making Casebook Writer6 Li Qing's Excellent Connections with a Commercial Publisher and the Publication of Zheyu xinyu7 The Intentions, Benefits, and Implications of Yan Junyan and Li Qing's Publishing Their Casebooks6 The High Degree of Consistency of Judicial Rulings as Reflected in the Case Reports from Mengshui zhai cundu and Zheyu xinyu1 The Structure and Classification System of Cases in Mengshui zhai cundu and Zheyu xinyu2 Case Analysis3 Concluding RemarksConclusionAppendix1 Yan Junyan's Other Family Members2 Yan Junyan's Artistic Achievements and Literary Works3 The Sources and Status of Research on Yan Junyan4 Sample Cases from the Two CasebooksBibliographyIndex
