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Ming dai she hui hun yin shi lei de su song yu shen pan de ge an fen xi : yi "er pai" zhong de gu shi wei li = Lawsuits regarding marriage in Ming China (1368-1644) as seen from short stories
Other titles
明代社会婚姻事类的诉讼与审判的个案分析 : 以"二拍"中的故事为例
Author
Chiam, Fei Fei
Supervisor
Yan, Shou Cheng
Abstract
This paper looks into the lawsuit regarding marriage as seen in fiction of the Ming period (A.D. 1368-1644). The cases analyzed are from the short stories collected in the Chuke paian jingqi and Erke paian jingqi written by the Confucian scholar Ling Mengchu, first published respectively in 1628 and 1633. These stories depict how the judge-who was the magistrate at the same time and was dominant in the court-made decisions. Through an analysis of the behavior patterns and values underlining h s decisions it is found that the judge was very flexible; he relied more on unwritten law and social conventions than on the law codes, and focused more on social harmony than on the execution of the law. Moreover, in these cases he treated the licentiates (shengvuan, i.e., candidates who have passed the qualifying examinations) favorably, even respectfully. It is also noticed that the benefits of wife and children were taken into adequate consideration in the court; this indicates the improvements in human rights in general and women's marriage, divorce, and property rights in particular in late imperial China, at least in the economically and socially developed Jiangnan area.
Date Issued
2002
Call Number
KNN542 C53
Date Submitted
2002