CHINESE JUSTICE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 276, 18 August 1919, Page 5

CHINESE JUSTICE

SIMPLE LEGAL FORMS

THE ROD FOR PERJURERS

During a period of fifteen years' con- ! seeutive travel in China—most of ii over ■ unbroken ground—we never had any- j thing stolen, unci never became the victim of ii swindle, save in the matter of ordinary fiijucoze.-i, says an editorial in tho "Central China l'ust," Hunlcow. He used to be more than astonished at seeing the way in which the natives left their property lying about in the inns, or dumped it on the road, with no particular protection, aud yet it was exceedingly rare tor thieves to take advantage of' the opportunities thus ottered. Even now strings of coolies may be oeen joggiug- along tho native streets carrying boxes of treasure, in the form of sycee :ir coin—and most of them open-without a guard and never does a box or a dollar go a-missing. As regards the security of nroperty, China in normal times was fully up "to the level of European countries, although all police or other supporters of the law were conspicuous by their a)«ence. "Tho explanation was that the people did their own policing, and settled, then; own disputes. If .they caught a thief they would handle him in such a way as "ofbn led to a. permanent cure, and if two parties fell out their trade guild, or the local gentry, would be called in to decide the dispute. Through these, acting as middlemen, the contention would he accommodated. As a final ro'fiort the matter could be carried to the Yainen for the district magistrate to settle. ' , ~ , Every Hsien, or county, had its county town, generally a walled city, and hero tho Hsien magistrate exercised jurisdiction over all the happenings within the limits of his county, be it ever so big. In the case of its containing other larpe and important towns subordinate magistrates would be placed there to represent him. The Hsien was equally open to deal with a thief, a lawsuit or a not, i although he did not go out to look tor business, but waited till complaints were made to him. In the event of any one bein» in difficulties the Yamen presented'many advantages compared with the °To gl begin with, everybody knew where to apply, ami all kinds of. complaints were in order-there was no such thing as hunting from olficc to office in.search of the one authorised to deal with the particular kind of business., *hen.the -Yainen was open night and day and theoretically had no hours. On the rightbond side of the entrance there **> a bie drum which on bfcinß sounded called out the magistrate, but for some rea«m this was never used.- Next the Magistrate could proceed to action on the nail; it was not necessary tor him to throutrh with wonderful expedition. Supposing 'a robbery had occurred and the masisuate was determined to have the criminals captured and the p undei recovered, it was generally wi in hi nnwnv to do so. He would call hi£ hean H catchers" and give them nnmbpr of dave within which they must JK tho men and the goods In case of MuiVthey would be soundly bamuse not to put the screw on. hfng ami the witnesses would rdtaje to MJ Wiything, yet inside halt: * hour the who.o matter would be straightened out. Beginning with a witness the meffktratc would ask for his version of the story. The reply would be, Ta Lao Yen I know nothing, 1 was not there. '•What? -Not fere?" Then the magistrate's hand would move towards ajar containing tallies, each one of which mean? a hundred bamboos. The witness would then amend his. evidence, but each time he seemed, to-the man of experience to be deviating from the truth the UJ<s would come into play asain, and not till the witness got his whacking could has word be relied on. We sometimes pointed out the' injustice of 'beating witnesses, and were informed that it was. as much for tho benefit of tho witness as the lnaßietrate, because if any man told the truth save under compulsion the Parties who suffered thereby would take it out of him later on; but if he had been beaten first he could not be held to blame./ All the parties would be handled m the same way and especially the accused, when tho actual facts would soon become apparent. A suitable sentence would then be pronounced. ' Tho weakness of the system lay m hayins aiU depending on tho character of the magistrate. If 'he was an upright manami there were many such—the praiee of his justice would be in every.mouth, but in the case of a corrupt magistrate I ,iny iniquity wa« prcsible.