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卷一百〇二 志第五十: 刑法一

Volume 102 Treatises 55: Punishment and Law 1

Chapter 102 of 元史 · History of Yuan
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Punishment and Law I
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From the earliest times, no ruler of the realm—not even the wisest sage-kings—has been able to govern without criminal law. When virtue and righteousness fail to move the people, statutes must bind them; and when statutes are broken in turn, the application of punishment becomes a genuine necessity. The ancient kings fashioned punishments not to inspire terror but to support good government. As the Book of Documents puts it: "The gentleman sets the people within the bounds of punishment, thereby teaching them reverent virtue." Surely later rulers who made harsh punishment and legal technicality their sole policy misunderstood what matters most and what matters less! The successes and failures of each age are plain enough to anyone who consults the historical record.
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使 西 使
When the Yuan dynasty first rose, it had no code of its own; government offices tried cases by the Jin statutes, which proved unduly harsh. After Kublai conquered the Song and unified the realm, redundant and oppressive provisions were cut away, a new code was drawn up, and issued to the bureaucracy under the title Regulations of the Zhiyuan Era. Under Renzong, statutes and precedents touching public morals were gathered into a compendium called the Broad Outline of Censorial Law. Under Yingzong, chief ministers and scholar-officials were ordered to revise the earlier compilations; the finished work was named the Comprehensive Institutions of the Great Yuan. The work falls into three main divisions: imperial edicts, regulatory articles, and adjudicated precedents. It contains ninety-four articles of edicts and institutions, 1,151 regulatory articles, and 717 adjudicated precedents—essentially a digest of legal practice from Kublai's reign onward. The five punishments were defined as follows: blows from seven through fifty-seven constituted flogging (chi); from sixty-seven through one hundred seven constituted beating with the heavy stick (zhang); Penal servitude paired term of years with a prescribed number of blows, increasing or decreasing together; salt laborers and convicted thieves were shackled even after sentence; exile sent southerners to Liaoyang and the far north, and northerners to the lake districts of Huguang in the south; capital punishment allowed decapitation but not strangulation; the gravest cases of treasonous villainy could be punished by death through dismemberment (lingchi). Ancient law took branding, nose-cutting, foot-cutting, castration, and death as the five punishments; later dynasties abolished bodily mutilation and substituted flogging, beating, servitude, exile, and execution. The Yuan adopted that scheme and leaned toward milder penalties—a measure of humane intent. Kublai told his ministers: "When I am angry and tell you to execute a criminal, do not obey at once—wait a day or two, then report back to me." Even the most merciful sovereigns of old could hardly have spoken more wisely. Later emperors likewise showed concern for undue severity: doubtful cases in the provinces were sent up for re-review with a bias toward mercy, and even confirmed capital sentences were not carried out until imperial approval arrived. During the Dade reign, Wang Yue urged again: "Under our law, every ten strokes of flogging or beating is counted as seven; a sentence of one hundred blows should therefore stop at ninety-seven, not rise by another ten." Ruler and ministers alike prized lenient law; that the realm enjoyed a century of peace was hardly accidental. Yet the system also bred abuse: separate rules for north and south, endlessly tangled categories, and venal clerks who twisted statutes by analogy to serve private ends, while hardened criminals repeatedly walked free under general amnesties; Western monks holding annual Buddhist ceremonies sometimes released prisoners at will to advance their schemes, leaving honest people voiceless with bitter grievance—a practice thoughtful observers deplored. On balance, Yuan criminal law succeeded in humanity and failed through laxity and insufficient discipline. The present account sets out the facts in order, so that posterity may judge what worked and what did not—hence this Treatise on Punishment and Law.
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◎ General Principles ○ Five Punishments — Flogging (chi): 7, 17, 27, 37, 47, and 57 strokes.
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Heavy stick (zhang): 67, 77, 87, 97, and 107 strokes. Penal servitude (tu):
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One year, plus 67 strokes of the stick; One and a half years, plus 77 strokes; Two years, plus 87 strokes; Two and a half years, plus 97 strokes; Three years, plus 107 strokes. Exile (liu): to Liaoyang, Huguang, or the far north.
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Capital punishment: decapitation and death by dismemberment (lingchi). Five mourning grades — severest (zhan): three years.
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For example, a son mourning his father, or a wife mourning her father-in-law. Second grade (qi): three years, one year with mourning staff, one year, five months, or three months. For example, a son mourning his mother, or a wife mourning her mother-in-law. Third grade (da gong): nine months; for a child who died young, nine or seven months.
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For example, mourning for brothers of the same household, or for an aunt or sister who has married out. Fourth grade (xiao gong): five months, or mourning for an infant death. For example, mourning for a great-uncle or great-aunt, or for a second cousin. Fifth grade (si ma): three months, or mourning for an infant death.
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For example, mourning for a distant cousin, or for a clan great-great-grandparent. Ten Abominations — Plotting rebellion: scheming against the state.
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Plotting great sedition: scheming to destroy the ancestral temples, imperial tombs, or palace. Plotting treason: scheming to desert the realm and join a rebel regime.
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Abominable rebellion (e ni):
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Beating or plotting to murder one's grandparents or parents, or killing paternal uncles and aunts, father's sisters, elder siblings, maternal grandparents, one's husband, or his parents and grandparents. Depravity (bu dao): slaughtering three innocent members of one household, dismembering a victim, brewing poison or witchcraft, or using malign sorcery.
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Great irreverence (da bu jing):
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輿 輿使
Stealing ritual vessels from the great sacrifices or items reserved for the imperial carriage and wardrobe; stealing or counterfeiting the imperial seal; compounding imperial medicine incorrectly or mislabeling the prescription; preparing imperial meals in violation of dietary taboos; building imperial boats for the sovereign's travel that are unsound; insulting the imperial carriage in circumstances of grave harm, or defying imperial envoys without the deference owed a subject.
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Lack of filial piety (bu xiao):
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Informing on or cursing one's grandparents or parents; while they live, setting up a separate household or dividing the estate; or neglecting their support; During mourning for parents, marrying oneself, making music, shedding mourning dress, or celebrating auspicious occasions; concealing news of a parent's or grandparent's death and failing to mourn; Falsely reporting that one's grandparents or parents are dead.
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Discord (bu mu): plotting to murder or selling kin within the fifth mourning grade or closer; beating or denouncing one's husband or elders within the third grade or closer, or senior kin within the fourth grade. Lack of righteousness (bu yi):
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Killing one's patron prefect, inspector, magistrate, or current master; soldiers or clerks killing a departmental superior of fifth rank or higher; or on learning of a husband's death, concealing mourning, celebrating, shedding mourning dress, or remarrying. Internal disorder (nei luan):
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Fornication with kin within the fourth mourning grade or closer, with a father's or grandfather's concubine, or with any party who consents. Eight Considerations — consideration for kin (yi qin):
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The emperor's kin within the bared-shoulder mourning grade or closer; kin of the Grand Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager within the fifth mourning grade or closer; and the empress's kin within the fourth grade or closer. Consideration for old ties (yi gu): long-standing associates of the throne. Consideration for worth (yi xian):
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Persons of outstanding moral character. Consideration for ability (yi neng): persons of exceptional talent and accomplishment. Consideration for merit (yi gong):
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Persons who have rendered great service to the state. Consideration for eminence (yi gui): active officials of third rank or higher, honorary officials of second rank or higher, or holders of first-rank nobility. Consideration for diligence (yi qin):
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Persons who have toiled with exceptional diligence for the state. Consideration for guests of state (yi bin): descendants of a former dynasty treated as national guests. Commutation of punishment (shu xing) (Supplementary provisions)
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Local magistrates guilty of minor official offenses may commute punishment by paying a fine. Officials who break the night curfew may commute their sentence. Persons over seventy or under fifteen, who cannot endure beating, may commute punishment. Convicts who are gravely ill or disabled, and unfit for corporal punishment, may commute their sentence.
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宿 殿 殿 宿宿
Night guards rotate every three days, hold the keys to the four gates, and close them at dusk and open them at dawn—they must exercise the utmost care. Anyone who forces entry into the palace shouting to reach the emperor's ear shall receive 107 strokes and be deported to the Yuan homeland. Anyone who enters the palace courtyard armed without authorization shall receive 87 strokes and be exiled far away. Anyone who climbs the corner towers of the Imperial City to commit theft shall be executed. Anyone who breaks into the forbidden precinct and steals gold, jade, or precious vessels shall be executed. Anyone who enters the imperial park and steals or kills official animals: the ringleader receives 87 strokes and two years' penal servitude; accomplices one grade less; all are tattooed; witnesses who fail to report—47 strokes of flogging; gate guards who take bribes and let offenders go—57 strokes; sentry soldiers who fail to challenge intruders—27 strokes. If Han Chinese or southerners enlist as night guards and the chief guard accepts them, both parties are punished. At the gates of Dadu, Shangdu, and other capitals, urgent night passage requires an official bearing the ivory night-travel tally and a woven imperial edict; the gate officer must verify them before opening the gate. Even with a tally token, if there is no woven imperial edict, no one may pass—on pain of death.
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Regulations on Office I
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簿 便 滿沿 調
Government seals are kept by the chief officer and sealed by the deputy; when the chief is away on assignment, authority passes by dispatch to the deputy, and subordinates seal in turn—never into private hands. Locks and keys of prefectural and county gates are held by the appropriate offices. All offices must process recommendations, criminal papers, and fiscal documents with joint circular endorsement unless there is good cause. On taking office, officials within a hundred li of their superior must pay a formal call; those farther away are exempt; superiors who summon subordinates without cause and delay public business are forbidden to do so. Memorials and endorsements at every level must be reviewed from the bottom up before action is taken. Provincial offices and below must keep a red cancellation register for public business, reviewed on schedule by the supervising officer. At joint sessions, colleagues of equal rank sit by order of appointment; anyone who takes a seat out of turn is corrected. On joint reports to superiors, each officer must sign his own name. With good cause, the reviewing chief may sign for another and note the reason; clerks who sign for others without authority are punished. When an official is replaced or dismissed, he proceeds as convenient and files a full certificate of release. Unauthorized travel to the capital is forbidden. Office case files, registers, and accounts must be catalogued and shelved in the archive. In each circuit, the archive officer, the administrator, and the administrative aide share custody of the files; in prefectures, departments, and counties, the administrative aide, archive officer, chief clerk, and record clerk hold them. At the end of each term, records must be handed over with the utmost care. Privy Council and Branch Secretariat papers, except troop figures and frontier military secrets, are reviewed by surveillance censors. An official who accepts an extra assignment from a superior while his own post is vacant may report back for instructions. He may not on his own authority put a chief clerk in charge. Officials escorting government goods to the capital, except those regularly exempt, are listed and assigned in rotation. If favoritism skews the rotation, the superior is punished. Clerks are reassigned so that surveillance commission clerks avoid their circuit of service, and local clerks avoid their home district. If a lost seal is recovered at once, the penalty is one month's salary; if it cannot be found, the Ministry of Rites is petitioned for a new casting. A disgraced seal-keeper may not seek reappointment until the original seal is recovered. Anyone who destroys or conceals frontier-pass documents is exiled. When a Mongol official is convicted, judgment and corporal punishment must be carried out by a Mongol officer. Members of the four keshig guards, princes, imperial sons-in-law, Mongols, and semu who commit adultery, theft, or fraud are tried by the Office of the Imperial Clan. Anyone who offers his daughter to a powerful patron for advancement forfeits any appointment gained and has his property confiscated. While in office, officials may visit relatives, old friends, and persons ritual requires them to attend; all other visits are forbidden.
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使使 殿祿 滿 滿 殿 祿
Officials who accept presentation gifts from subordinates on taking office are punished one grade below the bribery statute. Officials who accept food or drink in thanks from the public after handling a case receive 27 strokes and a demerit. Superiors and envoys who accept banquets or gifts on mission are punished two grades below the non-perversion bribery scale; those who accept in passing, one grade less—investigated by the censorate. Officials and credentialed persons who take bribes and pervert justice are struck from the rolls permanently; those who do not pervert justice are demoted three years in seniority; a second offense bars reappointment; the unsalaried are punished one grade less. Using Zhiyuan paper cash as the standard—for perverting justice: 1 to 10 strings, 47 strokes; under 1 string, discretionary punishment and removal from the rolls; 10 to 20 strings, 57 strokes; 20 to 50 strings, 77 strokes of the stick; 50 to 100 strings, 87 strokes; above 100 strings, 107 strokes. Without perverting justice: 1 to 20 strings, 47 strokes, reappointment at the same grade; under 1 string, discretionary punishment, removal from the current post, and seeking office elsewhere; 20 to 50 strings, 57 strokes, with notation for one term in a remote post; 50 to 100 strings, 67 strokes, demotion one grade; 100 to 150 strings, 77 strokes, demotion two grades; 150 to 200 strings, 87 strokes, demotion three grades; 200 to 300 strings, 97 strokes, demotion four grades; above 300 strings, 107 strokes, removal from the rolls without reappointment. Officials who take bribes and confess fully are exempt from punishment; incomplete confession brings liability only for the unreported portion. Confession before a report is filed, or returning the bribe to its owner, reduces the penalty by two grades. Early confession after learning that a case has surfaced elsewhere is treated like confession before a report, even if the informant was unknown. Confession under a false name is not accepted. If the offender dies of illness, relatives may confess on his behalf. Censorate and surveillance officials who take bribes may not benefit from voluntary confession. An office that accepts a third party's confession on the offender's behalf is punished. Officials who extort bribes from the guilty without yet receiving payment receive 27 strokes. In reporting official bribery: actual taking; gifts of excess the official did not initially know of; gifts left with a third party until a case ends; or money planted and labeled a gift to frame someone—liability follows where the money lies, and the giver is punished as well. Any official clearly guilty of bribery is suspended pending trial. Base persons or slaves who hold office and commit bribery are removed from the rolls. If bribery was clear before an official's death, his family must still surrender the bribe. If an official is pardoned or confesses, the person who paid the bribe is not punished. Bribery cases are tried by whichever agency—the censorate or the provincial administration—opened the inquiry. An official whose bribery is proved but who falsely accuses his examiner is sentenced to penal servitude after judgment. Household members who take bribes are punished two grades below the official standard. If the official did not know and confesses as soon as he learns, both he and his household are exempt; if he does not confess at once, the official is punished two grades below the household standard and the household by the full statute. If the official knowingly has a household member take the bribe, he is punished under the full statute and the household member is exempt. If the official truly did not know, only the household member is punished. An appointee who has not yet taken office but commits bribery on assignment is judged like an incumbent. An official transferred to a remote post who has begun duty but lacks credentials is treated the same. A clerk who takes a bribe before promotion forfeits the office if the matter surfaces after promotion. Grain-and-tax officials who take bribes without perverting justice are punished by the bribe amount alone, without seniority demotion. An official who learns a case is pending and returns the bribe is treated like a pre-emptive confession and receives a two-grade reduction. Perverters of justice are reappointed three grades lower; non-perverters leave office and seek appointment elsewhere. Officials who misappropriate government funds are treated as perverting justice and are struck from the rolls even after amnesty. An official under clear suspicion of bribery who feigns illness is suspended and recalled to answer charges. If relatives or attendants take gifts from subordinates without the official personally profiting, amnesty restores the official to office. A local governor nearly convicted of bribery whom a court favorite summons to the capital is seized and returned to the original examiner. An official who flees after bribery is judged as if the case were already concluded. An official who takes a bribe and then enters mourning is investigated when mourning ends. Military officers who do not observe mourning are not subject to this deferral. An official who confesses to bribery and receives amnesty is spared punishment but must surrender the bribe and accept demotion as prescribed; those who have not confessed receive no benefit. If an official returns a bribe at once, prosecution is barred even if the owner still insists on reporting. Officials who take payment to intercede for others are punished according to the bribe amount. Petty clerks who commit bribery are convicted and struck from the rolls. Warehouse clerks with formal credentials but no supplemental grain salary are not treated like petty clerks. Clerks eligible for regular official rank, or officials transferred from clerk posts, who commit bribery are removed like clerks. Chief clerks in prefectures and counties without court appointment are treated like clerks. Clerks who accept payment for matters that are not true offenses are not struck from the rolls.
30
滿 殿
Officials outside the regular grades who accept popular petitions overstepping their authority receive 17 strokes; chief clerks 27 strokes and a demerit. Officials who falsely levy taxes on the people in districts without assigned official fields are convicted, dismissed, and demerited. Officials who frequently visit taverns or houses of entertainers are convicted and dismissed. Supervising officials who privately employ bowmen receive 27 strokes; for three or more, one grade higher. Seizing and riding a bowman's horse: 17 strokes and a demerit on record. Responsible officials who comply are each punished one grade less. Officials ill for a full hundred days are declared vacant; they may resume office after one year. When an official commits two offenses and the lighter is judged first, guilt follows the first judgment and seniority demotion follows the later offense. Anyone who feigns death to escape prosecution receives 67 strokes; officials are dismissed without reappointment; large bribes bring the heavier penalty. Chief officials of offices at or below the regional secretariat level may not humiliate their chief clerks without cause. Faults of chief clerks must be reported to superiors; no one may investigate them on their own authority. If a chief official's ruling is unjust and he ignores the chief clerk's review, the clerk may report directly to superiors. Court-attending officials who gather in partisan factions without cause are punished and their appointment is deferred.
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祿 滿 殿 便
Officials who refuse a posted appointment citing distance or rank forfeit their commission and are sent to farm. Officials who feign illness to leave office may resume service after three years at two grades lower; colleagues who collude by issuing documents drop one grade. Appointed officials blocked from taking office by audits, mourning, illness, or other verified matters may petition the local office, obtain certification, and be reappointed to their original posting. Officials who certify false claims share the punishment. Newly appointed officials who move to their post before their turn must be investigated by their superior. Yamen may not assign persons awaiting appointment or dismissed idle staff without salary to private errands. Officials who fail to return for a parent's funeral receive 67 strokes, drop two grades from their former rank, and are reappointed to minor posts. Taking office before mourning ends brings 47 strokes, one grade lower, with reappointment only after mourning ends. Officials who falsely claim a parent's death to avoid duty receive 87 strokes and are struck from the rolls permanently. Falsely reporting a long-dead parent as newly deceased brings 57 strokes, dismissal from the current post, and reappointment to minor posts. Failure to observe parental mourning is punished the same as failure to return for a funeral. Officials detained for private crimes may observe parental mourning regardless of confession; questioning resumes after mourning; public offenses are forgiven. Officials who conceal mourning, hold banquets during mourning, or play music at home during national mourning are dismissed without reappointment. Officials on provincial duty who request leave for legitimate reasons must file office memorials with their superior and have it recorded in a register. False excuses for leave are investigated and punished by censorial officials. Officials relocating a parent's or grandparent's burial receive twenty days' leave, with travel days excluded at seventy li per day; salary continues within the limit; late return brings forced suspension. When certificates of release from office are wrongly withheld, wrongly issued, or fail to record offenses, the responsible officials are punished. Falsely inflating or reducing merits and offenses on a certificate of release from office is punished the same way. Officials who conceal past offenses when issuing credentials for reappointed officials punish those who first issued the certificate. Concealing past offenses to gain office, once discovered after appointment, brings 47 strokes and revocation without reappointment. Officials past retirement age who refuse to retire are investigated and dismissed by the Surveillance Commission. When officials are punished, seniority demotion is counted from the date questioning and suspension began. Distant officials with parents over seventy may obtain native-place certification and be posted to a nearby vacancy to support them; abuse is punished. Successors of officials who die in royal service receive yin privilege appointment two grades lower.
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Memorials from fifth-rank offices and above must be written respectfully in Mongol script, with a Chinese duplicate attached. Congratulatory memorials must follow prescribed forms for copying, registration, and seals; violations of temple or imperial taboo names are forbidden. Official notifications from offices with quota translators must be written in Mongol script. Offices with both Mongol and Huihui translators must label and seal transfer and inspection documents in both scripts. Official documents must observe rank and prescribed forms; only a chief minister governing an outer prefecture may sign ministry documents with surname alone, omitting his personal name. Ministers may not act on verbally transmitted imperial orders.
33
宿
All major affairs must pass through the Central Secretariat, except those the Bureau of Military Affairs, Censorate, and certain bureaus may report directly; bypassing the Secretariat to reach the throne or issue orders is a regulatory violation. Offices that execute orders without proper authorization are investigated by supervising censors and the Surveillance Commission. Leaking Central Secretariat deliberations is reported to the throne and punished according to the offense. Provincial and ministry officials registered with the palace guard administer by day and stand guard rotation by night. Inspectors auditing the Central Secretariat and Six Departments refer delays to secretariat clerks for punishment and have department clerks record charges on the spot.
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使 調 使使 稿
Regional secretariats that use soldiers for construction without imperial approval, even for government buildings, are still punished. Regional secretariats may not dispatch military officers for non-military errands. Each regional secretariat's two chiefs receive golden tiger tallies to command troops, except Yunnan, where all officials receive prefectural tallies. Military negligence among officers under regional secretariats is judged by the officer directing troops. Other offenses are referred upward for officials of promulgation rank and above, and judged locally for officials of order rank and below. Regional secretariats' annual funds are inspected quarterly by local chiefs, reconciled at year-end by formula, with excess recovered and totals verified by the Ministry, Censorate, and surveillance officials. Frontier ministers who take bribes and allow bandits to rise in rebellion are executed; complicit aides are punished and struck from the rolls even under amnesty. Military officers who fail to supply hungry troops, assign labor unfairly, substitute private servants, charge usurious interest, call the strong 'exhausted' and the poor alone fit for service, take bribes, and ruin the rolls face collective punishment up the chain: centurion to chiliarch to myriarch. When a myriarch is guilty, the Bureau of Military Affairs and regional command report the facts and punish according to the offense. The Bureau of Imperial Entertainment's requisitioned livestock is held to strict deadlines, regulated provisions, and seal controls under close inspection. Deceiving officials and harassing the people is investigated by the Surveillance Commission. Hanlin Academy drafts of translated edicts must be submitted to the Central Secretariat for joint review. Archives other than frontier military emergencies are reviewed by supervising censors. Bureau of Buddhist Affairs archives are audited except files for Buddhist rituals; all other documents and subordinate offices are inspected. Archives of the Bureau of Palace Attendants and Kélián artisans' former prefectural offices are audited by censorial officials.
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調 殿 殿
Censorial officials enforce official discipline, audit clerks, oversee rites and travelers, hear state and military deliberations, adjudicate popular grievances, and investigate crimes in taxation, corvée, selection, accounting, construction, trial, audit, official corruption, displaced persons, and violent land seizures. Regional censorate officials chiefly investigate fraud by officials below the pacification commission, displaced poor, predatory powerful families, and unfit surveillance officials; other duties match the central censorate. Circuit surveillance offices record popular appeals to the Censorate; at year-end they assess each circuit's best and worst performance and promote or dismiss officials accordingly. Each year censorial officials report the number and charges of officials convicted of bribery, fraud, and delay to the Central Secretariat. Inner and outer censorates annually dispatch supervising censors to audit provincial archives and assess Surveillance Commission personnel; unfit officials are referred for dismissal, unfit clerks are removed on the spot. Censorial officials must base recommendations on proven merit and impeachments on clear charges; improper recommendations or impeachments bring shared punishment. Palace attendant censors must enter with court ministers presenting memorials and expel anyone who should not hear deliberations. At court assemblies and sacrifices, breaches of ritual, disorder, or absenteeism by pretext are immediately punished. Civil and military officials taking leave beyond three days must report by office memorial. Establishing offices, assuming ceremonial posts, and official travel require the same office memorial reporting. Surveillance circuit officers review prisoners in early summer, conduct inspections in mid-autumn, and return the following early summer. Those who evade duty by delay or pretext are impeached by supervising censors. On circuit tours, clear charges against officials of sixth rank or below are referred to the general office; fifth rank and above are reported to the censorate for imperial decision. Surveillance officials who seal armories without authorization receive 37 strokes, are dismissed, and are reappointed elsewhere. Even without complainants, supervising censors and the Surveillance Commission investigate bribery and report proven cases. When the provincial Surveillance Commission discovers bribery by regional officials or chief clerks, it reports to the censorate; lower-ranking offenders are questioned locally. The Surveillance Commission may not seize cases already under the regional secretariat judicial inquiry office. Bribery cases against officials must be heard personally by the Surveillance Commission, or by an equally ranked upright official if personal attendance is impossible. Officials under investigation who believe themselves wronged may petition the Censorate. True accusations punish the accused; false accusations punish the accuser one grade higher. Framing officials under investigation with fabricated charges is forbidden. Do not torture officials accused of bribery hastily; enhanced interrogation applies only when evidence is clear and they refuse confession; military officers are stripped of their tally first. Censorial officials who commit bribery are punished one grade higher and struck from the rolls even without perverting justice. Frontier ministers may not collect subordinates' salaries to prepare tribute gifts for imperial audiences. Violators are punished.
36
西 沿
Military officers who fail to suppress border raids by tribal bandits in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Guang receive 37 strokes; civilian officials 27 strokes; both lose one rank grade and receive a demerit. If frontier garrisons fail and outside bandits raid across the border, military officers are punished but civilian officials are not. Military and civilian frontier officials with no bandit raids for three years are rewarded: civilian officials gain one step toward promotion, military officers one honorary rank. After five years without bandit raids, both civilian and military frontier officials gain one honorary rank. Prefecture and county household registers must be carefully stored and passed from chief official to chief official.
37
殿
Agricultural officials report yearly achievements in farming, sericulture, and irrigation upward through their superiors to the agriculture ministry, which assesses performance and sends rankings of best and worst to the province. Officials who neglect duty or undermine the law are punished. Officials who accept illicit extra levy money while inspecting fields are judged under the excess-levy statute. Accepting bribes to seize people's corvée assignments is judged as perverting the law. Quota tax districts are managed by the chief civilian official; when absent, the deputy fully assumes duty. Account clerks from each district reconcile quota tax collections at the province once a year. Illicit extra levies are impeached by inspection officials. Prefectures and counties collect tax grain in three annual deadlines: end of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months. Missing the first deadline brings 40 strokes; repeat offense 80 strokes; tax brokers and their voluntary partners forfeit all property and pay double the original levy. If grain transport is entrusted to an acting official instead of the regular chief, causing loss or shortfall, the darughachi and civilian chief share punishment. Supervisors who fail to detect false charity granary counts in prefectures and counties are punished.
38
Officials who decide cases on forbidden punishment days forfeit one month's salary; clerks receive 27 strokes and a demerit. Officials who illegally beat minor offenders to death bear guilt for the signing judges. Officials previously sued by a guilty party may not investigate that party's case. Officials who detain people on rumor of private bedroom scandals receive 47 strokes, are dismissed, and may resume office after one year. Replaced and retired officials must respond to summons the same as incumbents. Matters of marriage, land, and debt may be pleaded only by sons, grandsons, younger brothers, or nephews; officials who overreach are investigated. Officials who accuse subordinates or commoners of insult must not act unless they heard it themselves; violators are punished. Judging officials must recuse themselves in cases involving mourning kin, affinal relatives, former teachers, or personal enemies; failure to recuse brings punishment for the offense at issue. Anyone who applies official law against an elder is dismissed and demoted even after amnesty.
39
便 便
Civil cases involving Mongol troops must be heard jointly with the commanding officer. Military commanders, auruq officials, salt transport staff, hunting and falconry artisans, military craftsmen, and appanage dependents who commit robbery, counterfeiting, kidnapping, tomb robbery, arson, adultery, or any capital crime are tried by civil authorities. Brawls, marriage and land disputes, status disputes, debts, property, succession, and unfair corvée complaints are tried by the defendant's supervising authority. Cases involving civilian households are heard jointly with civil offices, which also make arrests; after three failed summonses, civil offices judge immediately. Cross-border suits between soldiers and civilians are judged by the defendant's local office where suit was brought, without joint consultation. Unjust judgments may be appealed to superiors, and the original judges are punished. Disputes among Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian clergy are not tried by civil offices but by the authorities of the three traditions jointly. Qadi masters may teach scripture only; criminal, household, fiscal, and civil matters of Huihui persons are tried by civil offices. Monks who commit adultery, theft, fraud, homicide, or other grave crimes are tried by civil authorities. Disputes among monks are tried by each monastery's abbot and supervising chief. Land disputes between monks and laypersons require joint consultation with civil offices; if the other party fails to appear, civil offices judge immediately. Monastery lands are taxed except for former Song endowments and fields granted by Kublai; later donations and purchased lands pay tax as usual. Officials summoning subordinates on public business must use credential tallies; agents who harass the people are forbidden.
40
Covering exposed remains and burying the dead is an official duty. Famine corpses or unclaimed bodies on the road, where inspection is required, are buried by local landowners and neighbors after inspection; where inspection is not required, burial proceeds at once. Relieving disaster and aiding the afflicted is a neighboring district's duty. Hoarding grain sales during famine is punished. Late or false disaster reports and failure by supervisors to inspect on time are all punished. Failure to combat locust plagues brings one month's salary fine for circuit officials, 17 strokes for department officials, 27 for county officials, and a demerit. Officials who fail to report and relieve flood or drought famine, causing displacement and starvation, receive 37 strokes for the chief and 27 for the deputy, are dismissed, and are reappointed one grade lower. False disaster inspection—reporting good harvest as ruin or vice versa—brings fines or strokes by acreage; reporting ruin as ripe to extort tax brings 47 strokes and dismissal. Officials who evade disaster inspection on pretext receive 37 strokes.
41
Righteous husbands, chaste widows, filial sons, and obedient grandsons of outstanding conduct are recommended locally and verified by censors; false recommendations punish the original recommender. Officials who falsely report eligibility for elderly silk grants receive 47 strokes, are dismissed, and are reappointed elsewhere. Recommendations of outstanding scholars may not be submitted without investigation by censors and surveillance commissioners.
42
殿 使
Officials who refuse to hear parricide cases on pretext receive 67 strokes, are dismissed, are demoted three years in seniority, and are reappointed to miscellaneous posts. Delaying corpse examination or refusing inspection reports until the body decomposes brings 37 strokes for the chief official and 47 for chief clerks. Failure to examine corpses in person, falsifying findings, or collusion between examiners brings demotion or dismissal for chiefs, 57 strokes and dismissal for chief clerks, 77 strokes for coroners, and bribery penalties for those who take payment. Fabricating corpse-examination documents for prisoners who die in custody brings 37 strokes and reassignment elsewhere for the chief official. Even after replacement or amnesty, the demerit remains on record. Officials who rubber-stamp initial corpse reports after the body is burned or buried are dismissed and reassigned. If already transferred, the demerit is still recorded.
43
Frontier princes and passing troops are supplied from official stores with branch secretariat notification; unauthorized extra levies are forbidden. Without an imperial edict, officials need not greet passing princes, imperial sons-in-law, or ministers in the suburbs, must not obstruct public business, and may not present farewell gifts—supervisors constantly investigate. Military offenses by officials of order rank are judged locally; those by officials of promulgation rank are handled by the central or branch secretariat. Other public offenses may not be judged rashly at the circuit level.
44
Escorts who lodge prisoners in inns instead of jails, allowing escape, bring 27 strokes for the escort and 47 for the guard, who must recapture the fugitive; a demerit is recorded. Officials who deliberately release exiled convicts in transit receive 67 strokes, are dismissed, are reappointed one grade lower, and receive a Ministry of Punishments demerit.
45
Hired and compulsory purchases require seasonal appraisal and payment according to the goods. Officials and powerful families who monopolize procurement for private gain are punished. Inflating compulsory-purchase appraisals and sharing the excess is treated as stealing government funds; without sharing, guilt follows the inflated amount. Supervisors or responsible officials who submit goods under false names forfeit the entire value. Deducting from purchase payment is punished under the non-perversion bribery statute. Failure to pay promptly is investigated by the censorate. Officials who distribute relatives' goods to the people and collect money are punished two grades below non-perversion bribery based on surplus profit; money and goods return to owners. Officials who use civilian labor privately receive 27 strokes, a demerit, and must pay compensation to the people. Deductions from subordinates' salaries for public use or imperial gifts are not prosecuted after leaving office. Officials who collect subordinates' salaries as farewell gifts when leaving office receive 47 strokes and return to duty. Officials who borrow relay horses within their jurisdiction receive 37 strokes, are reappointed one grade lower, and receive a demerit. Officials who offer congratulations or condolences to unrelated households in their jurisdiction without ritual cause are forbidden to do so. Violators are punished.
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