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INSANITY AND PARRICIDE IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA (EIGHTEENTH–TWENTIETH CENTURIES)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2013

Luca Gabbiani
Luca Gabbiani*
Affiliation:
Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient, EFEO Beijing Center E-mail luca.gabbiani@efeo.net
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Abstract

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the reasons for which insane individuals who had committed patricide were systematically sentenced to dismemberment (lingchi 凌遲) under the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the most severe form of capital punishment that could be called for in the state's administrative and penal Code. This extreme harshness ran contrary to several “theoretical” foundations of Chinese traditional law, first and foremost the principle of criminal intent. Through the study of such criminal cases, and others legally affiliated to patricide, spanning the seventeenth to the early twentieth century, it underlines the importance of the relationship between a parent and his child, which was prominent in China's moral and cultural context at the time. It also stresses the role of political issues related to the legitimacy of the imperial state and to the upholding of the legality of its judicial process. Even though legal tools existed in the Qing Code, which would have allowed for a more lenient approach, and notwithstanding the Qing authorities' ongoing effort at defining specific legal procedures for insane homicides, lingchi was systematically applied to insane patricides until the early twentieth century, when the far-reaching legal reforms implemented during the last years of the imperial regime progressively opened the way for the recognition of the legal irresponsibility of insane individuals.

Keywords

ChinaQing dynastylawparricideinsanityrule of lawarchives
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , July 2013 , pp. 115 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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References

REFERENCES

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Da Qing Xin XinglüDa Qing Xin Xinglü 大清新刑律. 1910 edition, Beijing: Xiuding falüguan.Google Scholar
Dingli huibianDingli huibian 定例彙編. 1883 edition, printed by the Jiangxi provincial judge office.Google Scholar
HDSLDa Qing huidian shili 大清會典事例. 1899 edition, Shanghai: Shangwu Yinshuguan, 1909.Google Scholar
Hong and RaoHong Hongxu 洪弘緒 and Rao Han 饒瀚, eds. Cheng'an zhiyi 成案質疑. 1755 edition.Google Scholar
Junjichu lufu zouzheJunjichu lufu zouzhe 軍機處錄副奏摺. National Palace Museum Archives, Taipei.Google Scholar
Shen Jiaben weike shu jizuanShen Jiaben weike shu jizuan 沈家本未刻書集纂. 2 vols. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1996.Google Scholar
XingbudangXingbudang 刑部檔. Number One Imperial Archives, Beijing.Google Scholar
Xue YunshengXue Yunsheng 薛允升. Duli cunyi 讀例存疑. Ed. Huang Jingjia 黃靜嘉, 5 vols. Taibei: Chinese Materials and Research Aids Service Centre, Research aid series #8, 1970.Google Scholar
Yuzhe huicunYuzhe huicun 諭摺彙存. Beijing: Xiehua Shuju, 1903–1906.Google Scholar
Zhang GuangyueZhang Guangyue 張光月, comp. Li'an quanji 例案全集. 1737 edition.Google Scholar
Zhu Qingqi et al. 2004 Zhu Qingqi 祝慶祺 et al. , comp. Xing'an huilan sanbian 刑案匯覽 三編. Beijing: Beijing Guji Chubanshe, 2004 revised ed.Google Scholar
Bourgon 2000 Bourgon, Jérôme. “‘Sauver la vie’. De la faute judiciaire en Chine à la fin de l'empire.” Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales 133 (2000), pp. 32–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brook, Bourgon and Blue 2008 Brook, Timothy, Bourgon, Jérôme and Blue, Gregory. Death by a Thousand Cuts. Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bünger 1950 Bünger, Karl. “The Punishment of Lunatics and Negligents According to Classical Chinese Law.” Studia Serica IX:2 (1950), pp. 1–16.Google Scholar
Chiu 1981 Chiu, Martha Li. “Insanity in Imperial China: A Legal Case Study.” In Normal and Abnormal Behaviour in Chinese Culture, eds. Arthur, Kleinman and Tsung-yi, Lin, pp. 75–94. Dordrecht, Boston, London: D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabbiani 2009 Gabbiani, Luca. “Pour en finir avec la barbarie. Folie et parricide en Chine à la fin de l'ère impériale.” T'oung pao 95:4–5 (2009), pp. 334–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulsewé 1955 Hulsewé, Anthony. Remnants of Han Law: Introductory Studies and an Annotated Translation of Chapters 22 and 23 of the “History of the Former Han Dynasty.” Leiden: Brill, 1955.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauwaert 1999 Lauwaert, Françoise. Le meurtre en famille. Parricide et infanticide en Chine (XVIIIe–XIXe siècles). Paris: Odile Jacob, 1999.Google Scholar
McKnight 1981 McKnight, Brian. The Quality of Mercy: Amnesties and Traditional Chinese Justice. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakamura 1973 Nakamura Shigeo 中村茂夫. Shindai keihō kenkyū 清代刑法研究 (“Studies on Qing Criminal Law”). Tokyo: Tōkyō Daigagku Shuppankai, 1973.Google Scholar
Ng 1990 Ng, Vivien. Madness in Late Imperial China. Norman, Okla., London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Shiga 1967 Shiga Chūzo 滋賀秀三. Chūgoku kazokuhō no genri 中国家族法の原理 (“Principles of Chinese Family Law”). Tokyo: Shōbunsha, 1967.Google Scholar
Simonis 2010 Simonis, Fabien. “Mad Acts, Mad Speech, and Mad People in Late Imperial Chinese Law and Medicine.” Ph.D. dissertation. Princeton University, 2010.Google Scholar
Stapleton 2000 Stapleton, Kristin. Civilizing Chengdu. Chinese Urban Reform, 1895–1937. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Centre, 2000.Google Scholar
Suzuki 2003 Suzuki Hidemitsu 鈴木秀光, “Kyōsei ōmei kō – Shindai shikei saiban ni okeru ‘kengi’ to ‘teirei’” 恭請王命考 – 清代死刑裁判における“権宜”と“定例” (“Study on the gongqing wangming procedure – ‘Expedient’ and ‘rule’ in the judicial process of the death penalty under the Qing)”. Hōseishi kenkyū 法制史研究 53 (2003), pp. 47–80.Google Scholar
Will 2011 Will, Pierre-Etienne. “Checking Abuses of Power under the Ming Dynasty.” In China, Democracy, and Law. A Historical and Contemporary Approach, eds. Will, Pierre-Etienne and Delmas-Marty, Mireille, chap. 3. Leiden: Brill, 2011.Google Scholar
Zheng 2000 Zheng Qin 鄭秦. Qingdai falü zhidu yanjiu 清代法律制度研究 (“Studies on the Qing Legal System”). Beijing: Zhongguo Zhengfa Daxue Chubanshe, 2000.Google Scholar