The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-06
CHiNA'S INEKORABLE LAW.
Children Who Cause Their Parents,
Death Must Undergo the Death


From the North China Herald.
In China, when a parent has met with
death at the hands of a son or daughter
no circumstances of intention or age are
permitted to interfere with the infiicijon
of the penalty. which is that of the
lngch'i, followed by decapitation. Any
mitigation of this cruel sentence, would
be considered by the Chinese as aiming a
blow at the fundamental principle of fill
ial duty, which is supposed to be the
groundwork of their code. Time and again
has the penalty of lingch'i been recorded
against patricides or matricides even when
they happened to be idiots or lunatics. and
therefore, not accountable for their &C
tons
The corruption and venality of the great
mass of officials in the empire has become
a byword, and it is not strange therefore
that justice can easily be evaded through
bribery. Thus a wealthy man who has
been guilty of killing a fellow creature,
whether by reconciliation or accident
can escape all serious consequences and
receive a sentence of three years Danish
ment to a spot 1000 miles distant instead
of the death penalty. Or, on the other
hand, when the relatives of the murdered
man are powerful enough to make theru-
selves heard by the officials and TO de-
mand the strict observance of the lex tai
ionis, the rich criminal may purchase
suitable substitute from among the beg
gar class. or perhaps an old and faithful
servant of the family may be permitted TO
forfeit his life in his masters stead But
never has it happened since China had
history that one who occasioned the death
of mis- parent or parents had contrived to
buy himself off and escape the lingchi, or
ox-eared knife, and the executioner's
heavy two-handled sword So deeply has
the doctrine of the ancient sages on The
observance of filial piety become rooted
in the hearts of the people of China that
no ma gistrate would dare to exercise len
iency by taking into consideration the cir
cumstances that led to case of parricide
or matricide with the view of mitigating
the doom fixed by law Not only would
the magistrate incur thereby the danger
of violence from the mob, but he would
subvert the obedience due from his own
family.
A partcde not only brings certain
death on himself, but disgrace on the dis
trict i'm VIII CHI he resides. In the case where
both parents are victims Chinese law or
dams that a corner of the district city
walls shall he pulled down as a lasting
chronicle of the shame and disgrace of the
district in having sheltered such a mon
ster. The magistrate and local officials are
cashiered and debarred forever from pub
lie employment as n punishment for not
having taught more effectively the doc
trine of filial piety, while the Governor of
the province, with his colleagues, the treas
urer and judge, together with the taotai
and project of the district, are all degraded
several steps in rank. In the case of the
murder of both parents the murderer ds
not only sentenced to undergo lingch'i and
decapitation, but his body Is nailed on the
top of the coffin Of one of his victims.
So far-reaching and immutable is this
law that it is plainly laid down that even
the infant in arms who accidentally causes
the death of its mother must suffer the ex-
treme penalty, provided the infant has
grown Its teeth. For instance, an infant
borne in the arms of its nurse and carry
ing in its tiny hand some sharp instrument
may let the same fall, and thereby accl
dentally cause the death of its mother. and
IL II should happen that the infant has one
tooth in its head at the time It will be
doomed TO the extreme penalty of lingeh'i
and decapltatlon, but If 1t has no teeth IL
will escape all consequences. Such is the
barbarous law of China 1t Is the only law
that offers no loophole for the escape OF
the perpetrator, whether the death was
premeditated or the result of accident All
other laws and penalties have been and can
be evaded-for the usual consideration.