The Litigation And Judicial Practice Of Land Disputes In The Late Ming Dynasty In Fujian

The middle and late Ming dynasty was a period of social change,and the development of commodity economy brings about changes in all aspects of society.Fujian,on the southeast coast,has been caught up in the tide of this change because of its unique geographical location:The frequent occurrence of farmland trade makes the limited arable land ownership in this area no longer belong to a certain stratum,the flow of the ownership of the arable land becomes a normal state.While adapting to social transformation and development,the new land relations also magnified some of the farmland problems which were not obvious in the past.Coupled with the impetuosity of the social atmosphere,the people of Fujian,under this luxurious atmosphere,are no longer only satisfied with the management of arable land,but began to put up ideas on the farmland trade and a series of benefits from the trade.At the late of the Ming Dynasty,Qi Biao Jia,who was the judge of the Xinghua prefecture in Fujian,collate the lawsuits that he had adjudged during his tenure,and collate into a book named ?Puyang Yan du?.Although these judgments were heard in the late Ming Dynasty,some of them were appealed to the government in the early years of Wanli.So this article collate the types of farmland problems recorded in this period from the judgments on arable land dispute in Puyang Yan du.By analyzing these different types,we can see that the problems of farmland in the middle and later periods are mainly divided into the boundary problems caused by the change of the soil boundary of the farmland,the problems of inheritance right of the fields in the people's clans,the problems of forged contracts to compete for profits of cultivated land or cultivated land,the problem of the tenancy caused by the change of the property rights of the farmland,the problem of raising the price when the rented farmland is bought back and the problems ofpeople mortgaging their debts with farmland.Although these problems are different,they are related to farmland transactions.Moreover,because of the differentiation of ownership of farmland,once the change occurs,it will cause changes in the interests of many aspects.and it's hard to reconcile for a while.If there is a problem,there will be a corresponding solution.Long term trading activities expose certainproblems but also form rules,which also called regulations.It can be seen from the relevant judgments that no matter in the litigation of tenancy or redemption,we can see the compliance of Fujian people of these regulations.When the existing state laws are used to resolve the contradiction of farmland,the government's basis is the regulations.But when it comes to litigation that is not yet clear in state laws,such regulations formed locally become the reference for government to trial related litigation.Therefore,under such circumstances,the government has a default attitude towards the development of local regulations.In some cases,when some local regulations can not restrict the intensification of farmland contradictions but become the originals of the contradictions,the government will not be palliative,if the crime is slightly,the prisoners should pay for food,be whipped or be punishment by beating with heavy bamboo.if the crime is more serious,depending on the circumstances,the prisoners will be sentenced to beheading and servitude and so on.Judging from the analysis of the existing sentences,the final purpose of the government is always to calm the lawsuit.When the problem of farmland can not be solved in the folk and taking the judicial procedure,the government first chooses the regulations as the solution mechanism and takes it as the criterion,which can be regarded as a reference and defaults to the government under the premise that the local regulations do not conflict with the state law or destroy the social order.In this case,most farmland lawsuits have been appeased after years of struggle,and a few cases involving human life have been sentenced according to the corresponding criminal law.This is the result of the foundation and treatment of various farmland problems in the late Ming dynasty.Although the laws of this period did not completely solve the problems at that time,the state law system,after all,needed to be perfected,which was summed up from the emerging social problems,and finally evolved into a series of policy systems of the country on the basis of the local existing regulations.