Writing and Law in Late Imperial China: Crime, Conflict, and Judgment (Asian Law Series)

In this fascinating, multidisciplinary volume, scholars of Chinese history, law, literature, and religions explore the intersections of legal practice with writing in many different social contexts. They consider the overlapping concerns of legal culture and the arts of crafting persuasive texts in a range of documents including crime reports, legislation, novels, prayers, and law suits. Their focus is the late Ming and Qing periods (c. 1550-1911); their documents range from plaints filed at the local level by commoners, through various texts produced by the well-to-do, to the legal opinions penned by China's emperors. Writing and Law in Late Imperial China explores works of crime-case fiction, judicial handbooks for magistrates and legal secretaries, popular attitudes toward clergy and merchants as reflected in legal plaints, and the belief in a parallel, otherworldly judicial system that supports earthly justice. Contributors include Thomas Buoye, Pengsheng Chiu, Mariam Epstein, Yasuhio Karasawa, Paul R. Katz, Mark McNicholas, Jonathan Ocko, James St. Andr©, Janet Theiss, and Daniel Youd. Cover 1 Title 4 Coprright 5 Contetns 7 Preface 10 Abbreviations and Terminology 14 Introduction: Writing and Law 20 PART I: Rhetoric and Persuasion 42 1 Making a Case: Characterizing the Filial Son 44 2 Explaining the Shrew: Narratives of Spousal Violence and the Critique of Masculinity in Eighteenth-Century Criminal Cases 61 3 Between Oral and Written Cultures: Buddhist Monks in Qing Legal Plaints 81 4 The Art of Persuasion in Literature and Law 98 PART II: Legal Discourse and the Power of the State 124 5 Filial Felons: Leniency and Legal Reasoning in Qing China 126 6 The Discourse on Insolvency and Negligence in Eighteenth-Century China 142 7 Poverty Tales and Statutory Politics in Mid-Qing Fraud Cases 160 8 Indictment Rituals and the Judicial Continuum in Late Imperial China 178 PART III: Literature and Legal Procedure 204 9 Reading Court Cases from the Song and the Ming: Fact and Fiction, Law and Literature 206 10 Beyond Bao: Moral Ambiguity and the Law in Late Imperial Chinese Narrative Literature 232 11 Genre and Justice in Late Qing China: Wu Woyao’s Strange Case of Nine Murders and Its Antecedents 251 PART IV: Retrospective 276 12 Interpretive Communities: Legal Meaning in Qing Law 278 Glossary 302 A 302 B 302 C 303 D 303 E 304 F 304 G 304 H 305 J 305 K 306 L 306 M 307 N 307 O 307 P 307 Q 308 R 308 S 308 T 309 W 310 X 310 Y 311 Z 312 Bibliography 314 Contributors 346 Index 349 A 349 B 349 C 350 D 351 E 352 F 352 G 353 H 353 I 353 J 354 K 354 L 354 M 355 N 356 O 356 P 356 Q 357 R 357 S 358 T 358 U 359 V 359 W 359 X 359 Y 359 Z 360 Scholars of Chinese history, law, literature, and religions consider the influence of the Ming and Qing dynasties legal culture on literature and the influence of literary conventions on the presentation of legal case Edited By Robert E. Hegel And Katherine Carlitz. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.