Wuzuo and Autopsy Practice in the Jiangxi Province during the Qianlong Reign

• Main Authors: Ting-Yu Cai, 蔡庭玉
• Other Authors: Che-Chia Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/44s57c

碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 科技與社會研究所 === 106 === The thesis analyzes the cases from Penal Memorials to the Throne (《刑科題本》) in Jiangxi Province during Qianlong period. By doing so, the author aims to reveal the limitation and practices of the Great Qing Code under to manage the judicial trial and the practices of analyzing cases. Questions exist in such analysis. What kind of forensic practices and techniques did the wuzuo play and how could wuzuo reveal personal opinions within the forensic system, did the functions of wuzuo satisfy lawmaker’s expectation? Addition to the introduction and conclusion, the thesis is divided to two parts. Chapter 2 brings the law as the analytic core along with reference to some existing studies, folk proverbs and other historical literature. The framework layout an introduction to the historical discourse of wuzuo’s autopsy work, and later traced the changing process of the forensic responsibility and the autopsy practice of wuzuo. The complication showed what different identities among inspectors by the governments in different dynasties. In chapter 3 and chapter 4, I turn to discuss the practice of being wuzuo. According to the Penal Memorials to the Throne, 95% of closely one thousand cases satisfied the official forensic standard without doubts. However, the rest of 5% of cases reguired indetermination. In Chapter 3, the author carefully reviews the successful cases by various angles to official handbooks, local chronicles, and biographies to illustrate the function of wuzuo. The action of wuzuo obviously depicted a normal judicial trial procedure while encountered the contradiction between "deserve to do" and "practice". Therefore, wuzuo could demonstrated his function and importance either in autopsy report or correspondence with official identity in every judicial detail and corresponded. To the rest 5% of cases, in Chapter 4 I revealed how wuzuo played the key role to abnormal situations. The abnormality commonly caused positive and the negative impacts to wuzuo’s roles. To the positive situation, wuzuo’s performance was way beyond official expectation. As the time and locality caused the difficulties of forensic practices, wuzuo’s experience could bring the authority to final verdict in in the Records on the Washing Away of Wrongs (《律例館校正洗冤錄》). When the case went oppositely, wuzuo’s skill and authority could be damaged by accuses ok taking bribes or under threat. Though these cases were little, they reflected the more real and complicated reality that existed in the Qing forensic world.