BOOK: Ka-Chai TAM, Justice in Print: Discovering Prefectural Judges and Their Judicial Consistency in Late-Ming Casebooks (Leiden-New York: Brill, 2020). ISBN 978-90-04-44276-4, 116.00 EUR

 

(Source: Brill)

Brill is publishing a new book on prefectural judges in the judiciary of the Ming Dynasty.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In Justice in Print: Discovering Prefectural Judges and Their Judicial Consistency 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 (盟水齋存牘) by Yan Junyan and the Zheyu xinyu (折獄新語) 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ka-chai Tam, D.Phil. (2009), University of Oxford, is Assistant Professor in History at the Hong Kong Baptist University. He has published several dozen articles on the social and maritime history of late imperial China and Chinese legal history.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Acknowledgement 

List of Tables 

1 Introduction 


2 Prefectural Judges in the Late-Ming Judicial System 


3 Favorable Institutional Circumstances for the Development of Judicial Professionalism 


4 The Emergence of the Late-Ming Casebooks and Their Importance to Our Understanding of the Ming Judiciary 

5 Two Exemplary Samples of Late-Ming Casebooks by Prefectural Judges: Mengshui zhai cundu and Zheyu xinyu 

6 The High Degree of Consistency of Judicial Rulings as Reflected in the Case Reports from Mengshui zhai cundu and Zheyu xinyu 

Conclusion 

Appendix 

Bibliography 
Index 

 

More info here