The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1898-11-25
A CHINESE LAW COURT.
y Battle of Vituperation-OneM Magis.
frafo For All Con.4.

= Battle of Internationally Magis-
trate For All Courts.
For peaceful people the Chinese ap-
pear to be most litigious race. The
moment that quarrel begins to be-
come serious one or the other of the
parties is likely to shout excitedly, 81
will go to the city p'-that is to present
his formal accusation at the yamen.
The other side threatens the same, and
while in large percentage uf cases out
siders contrive to suppress the immedi-
ate execution of the menace every one
recognizes that the trouble is only tenn
porarily patched up and may break out
in an aggravated form at any time.
If the accusations presented in these
courts were confined to anything like
the facts in the case, there would be no
case at all for nine tenths of them.
Therefore it is considered Indispensable
to blend with the real grievance from
70 to 50 per cent Of fiction. The plain
tiff DOES this as routine practice. So
does the defendant. When the magis-
trate happens to feel in good humor,
he calls up the case, or quite likely he
does so when he is in very bad humor,
which bodies i'll for one side, and not in.
frequently for both.
The first part of Chinese trial is like
ly to be something like the proceedings
in one of our own courts, great deal Of
formality and an apparent respect for
the majesty of the law and especially
for its representative, the district mag
istrate. who is the Chinese unit of gov
ernment, but it is not long before all
resemblance to occidental procedure
fades into thin air. There are no law
yers to protect the clients. If there real
| IL is any law bearing on the case in
hand, no one but experts such as the
yamen secretaries knows what it is
The magistrate is himself civil and
criminal judge, jury and practically the
appellate court. There is no manner of
restraint upon him in his inquiries or
in his treatment Of the principals or
witnesses. The greater part Of the mat
ter brought into Chinese lawsuit would
be entirely ruled out of any British
court as totally irrelevant to the main
issue. but in Chinese case there often
is no mair issue. or issue of any kind,
except the impatient shout Of the Off.
cial, SECT out with you'll (hsia-oh' U
la), whereupon all the parties retire and
not improbably not one Of them has tn,
smallest idea where the case has now
got to. Neither perhaps has the magis
trate, but for the time he has hat
l of nd &c 70 tra~ x,sx,
or two of opium, and will hear then
again when he has more oonvenien
season.
But before the case has been dismisse
the respective parties have by no mean
been idle. Each of them has told false
hoods enough to shock a company pre-
spectus maker, and as each party deliv
ers himself of these fabrioations th
other finds it impossible to restrai
himself and hoarsely bawls, "That 10
'liep' To this it is necessary to reply
which is done with volubility greatl
in contrast to the quiet Of the prelim
mary stages, when each replied in
few monosyllables only.
From ejaculatory Interruptions CIV
!; ing the other party the lie 1t Is but
stage to angry colloquies Of some lengt
in which each party struggles to b
; heard, each reviles the other vociferoul
ly, and neither party is interrupted G
reproved by the magistrate. who is nov
engaged in the process Of making q
his mind on the basis Of what he see
, and hears as to which side has the moi
of lie or reason.
In the worst stages Of case ID ofte
: happens that the magistrate himse
does the reviling, and, Chinese huma
t nature being what it ts, it also som'
, times occurs that the worsted party ]
. the suit reviles the magistrate, althoug
s this is rash, for he may beat them g
verely for so doing and then decide Il
case against them.-North China He
. | aid