The "witnesses " Of The County Civil Disputes InQing Dynasty

In Qing Dynasty, the witness is the name of attester in Justice of State and County, and also the important participant in the litigation process. The research of the witness is conducive to deepening the understanding of witness system in Qing Dynasty. This paper takes "the Nanbu Archives" as the main historical materials.From the judicial pretrial procedure and Church trial process in Qing Dynasty, this paper makes some empirical study on the specific "witness" in Nanbu In different stages of litigation proceeding, "witness" is also known as “attester” “rapper”“testation” “evidence” and so on. Who can be the witness was restricted to identity and number. In Nanbu, most of them came from complex clan system, communal organizations and gentry’s class. The number of them was three in most cases. Before the county magistrate started the trial, the witness could take part in survey and mediation of the case. Exploration was collaborated with the scribe; generally it had four processes: "licensing", "survey", "intrinsic cover" and "payment card". The wideness mediation could be self-invited by two parties, or could be collaborative exploration by the scribe, or also could be carried out by the county magistrate instructions. In the trial process, "witness" mainly worked for the parties to testify or guarantee. The witness was in the hall through the same ticket transfer extraction or two parties invited. They could prove personnel identity, why the parties dispute, the condition of intermediary mediation for the case; they also could guarantee the behavior and the identity of the parties. Preliminary research indicates that the witness participated in litigation was performance of judicial openness; this openness was reflected not only in the control of pretrial, also found in the hall of the trial process. The witness, as a legal requirement, played a connection role in the state county government and local social interaction process.