Injustice and Wrongful Death: A Study of Judicial Misjudgments in Middle and Late T'ang Dynasty Fiction

Title

Injustice and Wrongful Death: A Study of Judicial Misjudgments in Middle and Late T'ang Dynasty Fiction

Author

Wang Chih-Hao

Page

1-38

DOI

10.6163/TJEAS.202406_21(1).0001

Abstract

The T’ang Dynasty's method of selecting officials emphasized four aspects: character, speech, writing, and judgment. Among these, "judgment" was used as a measure, implying that in order to become a qualified official, careful attention must be paid to case handling to avoid wrongful judgments leading to unjust cases. Even so, cases of "wrongful convictions" and "wrongful deaths" caused by judicial errors in the T’ang Dynasty continued to emerge endlessly, appearing not only in historical records and inscriptions but also abundantly in novels from the middle and late T’ang Dynasty. Firstly, those who suffered "wrongful convictions" often found it difficult to overturn their cases within a short period of time through institutional means. Resolving wrongful judgments inevitably required external forces to break through the rigid structure. This is specifically illustrated in the narratives of various novels as the "other’s help" in real life and the "divine blessing" of religious redemption. Secondly, cases of "wrongful deaths" resulting from law enforcement officers disregarding judicial procedures, as depicted in novels, can be divided into two different narrative forms: "the oversight of the underworld judicial process" leading to "the rebirth of the deceased" and "revenge of the living" derived from "judicial errors in the mortal world." Finally, this thesis points out that in the late T’ang Dynasty, the novels of different authors, with different themes and purposes, coincidentally touched upon the judicial malpractices of that time, which were rooted in the deterioration of the gentry and the abuse of power by local officials, based on the institutional aspects of the selection and financial systems from the mid-T’ang Dynasty onwards.

Keyword

T'ang Dynasty Fiction, Law, Judgement, Wrongful Conviction, Middle and Late T'ang Dynasty Confucianism

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