Newsletter/Webzine

| 1. The Significance of Compilation and Translation with Annotation

  This book gathers the adjudication certificates of the Joseon period that are thus far known to academia, transcribing them from their original cursive script in classical Chinese, and translating their meaning into modern Korean, adding annotations for difficult passages. There are 70 adjudication certificates in this collection. More adjudication certificates were gathered, but they were excluded in final stages before publication due to severe deterioration or because the content was difficult to convey. There will be other adjudication certificates that have not been included in this collection, as there will be adjudication certificates newly discovered in the future. The exploration and study of those certificates will be the duty of future scholars.

  In The History of Korean Legal Systems (Hanguk beopje sago) (Beommusa, 1974), written by Professor Park Byoung-ho, the pioneer of research on Korean legal system’s history and historical legal documents, the original text and translations of a few Joseon-period adjudication certificates are included. With this as an impetus, whenever a adjudication certificate was newly discovered, it was selected as a presentation theme at conferences on historical documents, and after attempts at an initial interpretation, over some time a detailed analysis would be conducted by scholars of Korean history and legal history.

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| 2. What Are Adjudication Certificates?

  Adjudication certificates (gyeolsong iban, 決訟立案) are basically official papers produced in the process of handling civil disputes during the Joseon period. The reason adjudication certificates are important is that the substantive regulations and procedural regulations of the civil trials of the Joseon period are found within them. What relation do the civil substantive and procedural regulations of the Joseon period have to present-day Korea? Although there is a marked qualitative difference between both, there are also many shared aspects between them. A scholar of legal history’s task is to analyze the similar and different qualitative aspects between both.

  Adjudication certificates aid in the deeper understanding of historical materials as found between the lines are the legislations (法例) and official regulations (官式) that are not made known through written law (e.g. the Great Ming Code and the Joseon Administrative Code). For example, adjudication certificates contain specific examples of government intervention in property inheritance where there is no will (gwanjak jaeju, 官作財主), declaration in writing that something that is not one’s possession is one’s possession (gisang, 己上/記上), dismissal of cases if the involved parties fail to appear in person (chinchak gyeoljeol 親着決折), winning a lawsuit over all three trials (samdo deuksin 三度得伸), and harming/killing among close relatives (goryuk sangjan, 骨肉相殘). Today’s expert researchers know no more of the meaning of government intervention in property inheritance, etc., than the extremely superficial knowledge that can be found in Naver Dictionary. What really peaks our curiosity is the very “structural grammar” of Joseon society that gave birth to legislation like government intervention in property inheritance. The work of deciphering “structural grammar” is not an easy job, but the difference between having and not having that kind of critical awareness when working will only widen as time passes. I cannot but honestly admit that, currently in our field, there is more unknown than known about adjudication certificates.

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| 3. Two Valuable Research Results

   I want to mention how the publication of this book would benefit the Korean Studies field.

  First, although there have been many researchers who wrote in-depth research articles on the subject of each individual adjudication certificate, a researcher who has widely read all 70 adjudication certificates is rare. While transcribing and translating, errors of transcription and translation made in earlier academic efforts were occasionally noted. This book will also have mixed in it errors of transcription and translation. The reason for such errors is the incomplete nature of knowledge. Hopefully the errors made in this book will be found and rectified by researchers who reach the next level of research.

  Second, by thoroughly reading this collection, future scholars will be able to study adjudication certificates as much as they would like to. Although it would be difficult at first, if one patiently perseveres and keeps moving forward, such efforts will come to great fruition. If there is a reason not to reject this difficult work, it would be that the work can serve as a foothold and a stepping stone that could help future scholars reach the next level of their research.

  One disappointing aspect was that a separate volume including images of the original was not produced due to financial limitations. However, a majority of the images of the original text can be found via the Korean Historical Document Archives, the Kyujanggak Original Text Search Service, and the Jangseogak Original Text Search Service, etc.

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| 4. Advice to Readers Attempting Deeper Research of Adjudication Certificates

  First, I hope that the readers would repeatedly read this book, which contains the most recent research results on the adjudication certificates of the Joseon period, so that they could learn on one hand while pointing out errors and insufficiencies on the other.

  Second, I hope that the readers of this book would uncover more relevant new materials and present them in journals. As one avidly pores over the related materials contained within the twelve volumes of the Genealogical Records of the Collection of Korean Regional History Materials (Hanguk jibangsa jaryo chongseo bocheoppyeon), it will be easier for them to uncover related materials from other sources on their own.

  Third, I hope the readers maintain a dogged interest in deepening and disseminating upgraded knowledge on adjudication certificates.

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| 5. Future Research Tasks: Short Adjudications (短訟) and Transcription Issuances (謄給)

  The publication of this book does not mean that any remaining questions regarding adjudication certificates are all resolved. There are two more daunting tasks that await us.

  First, entering into the late Joseon period, expressions such as “short adjudication” (dansong 短訟), “decision and implementation of short adjudication” (dansong cheogyeol), and “decision and issuance of short adjudication” (dansong gyeolgeup) were used to refer to informal decision methods that did not follow the adjudication certificate format instructed in the “Essential Knowledge for Scholars and Petty Officials” (儒胥必知). In contrast to short adjudications, phrases such as “old formal regulations” (gugyeoksik), “old legal action system” (gusongche), and “old official regulations” (gugwansik) were used to refer to formal trials. The adjudication certificates included in this book mostly correspond to formal trials. I speculate that No. 70, “Decision and Issuance Certificate of the Imsul Year,” found in this book may be a dispute resolution method with the character of a “decision and issuance of short adjudication.” This should be verified in future research.

  Second, roughly ten official documents titled “transcription issuance” (謄給) which were issued by the government offices in the capital area, including Hanseong-bu District, have been discovered. Understanding the similarities and differences between these transcription issuances and the adjudication certificates is a research task for the future. However, in this collection transcription issuances were not included in the pool of documents that went through transcription and translation.

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