Delivering Justice In Qing China: Civil Trials In The Magistrate's Court

摘要

Until the 1990s, the mainstream narrative of the traditional Chinese legal system, in particular that of the Qing dynasty, held that its dominant features include: being predominantly a criminal system without civil law to settle civil disputes which were left to the extralegal social mechanism of mediation; pan-moralistic and Confucian-dominated adjudication at the expense of positive legal rules; Confucian discouragement of litigation itself; arbitrary and corrupt legal practice at law courts without check and balance, or separation of powers; lack of legal profession, professionalism and due process; barbarous cruelty in punishment; disrespect of individual dignity for the collective interest; and particularism instead of equality before law. Over the last two decades, there has been a growing literature that is gradually undermining the empirical foundation of this century-old narrative. With her lawyerly skill, Linxia Liang's recent book is a welcome addition to this literature and promises to enrich the discourse.