The Research On Legal Assistants Assist In Cases In The Qing Dynasty

In the Qing Dynasty,due to the disadvantages of the imperial examination system,local officials had low legal literacy,and local judicial affairs were heavy.Officials were not able to deal with all kinds of cases either in terms of legal ability or time allocation.Therefore,the entertaining of legal assistants was particularly important in local judicial practice.Despite the name of helping officials handle cases,legal assistants actually dominated the operation of local justice in the Qing Dynasty.In the Qing Dynasty,cases were divided into Ming Dao cases and civil cases according to different penalty ranges and types.In view of different types of cases,legal assistants explained the handling methods that they thought were important,and compiled the experience into books,such as “Zuo Zhi Yao Yan” “Outline of Handling Cases” “Xing Qian Bi Lan” “Mu Xue Ju Yao” etc.It provides many materials for later generations to study on this legal group.Through the analysis of these existing works and related cases,this paper discusses the key points and functions of legal assistants in assisting the handling of cases in local judicial practice.In addition to the introduction,this paper is divided into four chapters,which specifically includes the background and behavior of legal assistants in handling cases,the help of legal assistants in handling Ming Dao cases,the help of legal assistants in handling civil cases and the influence of the help of legal assistants on the local justice in the Qing Dynasty.The first chapter mainly expounds legal assistants and their auxiliary governance.Firstly,the background of legal assistants assisting in handling cases is introduced,and it is concluded that under the influence of factors such as the shortcoming of the official selection system leading to the relatively poor ability of the selected officials to handle cases independently,the numerous judicial affairs and the complicated legal system in the Qing Dynasty,and the need of effective prevention and supervision of petty officials,legal assistants flourished in the Qing Dynasty.Legal assistants improved their professional quality about learning to be a legal assistant before taking office,which provided a solid foundation for assisting officials to handle cases in the future.Secondly,this paper analyzes the auxiliary governance behavior of legal assistants.It can be seen from the auxiliary governance behavior of legal assistants,such as drafting the approval of pleadings,deciding the trial date of a case,summoning both parties and other relevant personnel of a case to court,drafting judicial documents and responding to inquiries from superiors,that legal assistants are not only the brains behind local officials.It is also the indispensable main force of local judicial affairs.The second chapter analyzes the help of legal assistants in handling Ming Dao cases,mainly introduces the help of legal assistants in handling the case involving the killing of a person and forcible theft cases.On the one hand,in the process of helping to handle the murder case,this paper concluded that the legal assistants paid more attention to the examination and identification of physical evidence and documentary evidence,and would also persuade the chief official to ask the root cause in detail and add detailed information.Then,it analyzed the main categories of Ming Dao cases and summarizes the basis of case division.On the other hand,aiming at the case of robbery and theft,this paper explains the handling procedure and the main behavior phenomenon.Finally,it summarizes the concepts related to the legal assistants’ assistance in handling Ming Dao cases,such as the concepts of handling cases prudently,avoiding unjust,false and wrong cases,and the concepts of leniency and pursuit of good retribution.The third chapter introduces the idea of legal assistants helping to handle civil cases,which is divided into three parts: legal assistants helping to handle land disputes,legal assistants helping to handle marriage and inheritance cases and legal assistants’ thought when they handle civil cases.When legal assistants assist in handling land disputes,this paper believes that legal assistants pay attention to the inspection and verification of documents such as contracts and pay attention to the timely completion of the inspection of field boundaries and mountain boundaries.When assisting in the handling of marriage and inheritance cases,legal assistants mainly adjudicate the status and property relationship.Legal assistant had the idea of settling litigation and paid more attention to the will of both parties.The law and reason are the important basis for the legal assistant to cite.In addition,this paper also distinguishes and discriminates the elements involved in "adultery" in the case of marriage and inheritance.Finally,aiming at the concept of legal assistants in handling civil cases,this paper summarizes the concept of legal assistants in handling cases,which is to quell litigation disputes first,reduce conflicts and pursue the balance between reason and law.The fourth chapter mainly describes the practical influence of the assisted governance of legal assistants on local judicature in Qing Dynasty.According to their character and ability,they can be divided into grades,there are pros and cons to legal assistants.In judicial practice,legal assistants have produced many positive influences,such as dealing with affairs to assist officials in the trial,applying law to promote the spread of law and preventing petty officials from cheating to maintain local order.Legal assistants sometimes have negative effects,such as accepting bribes,arbitrarily convicting people,and forming a gang to control the trial of local cases.