Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1898-11-24
A CHINESE LAW COURT.
Trials Are Simply Battles OF Nituper-
ntlOn-One Magistrate for
All Courts,


For a peaceful people the Chinese
appear to be a most litigious race.
The moment that a quarrel begins to
become serious one or the other of
the parties is likely to shout excited
Iy: 81 will go to the cityl'-that is
TO present his formal accusation at
the yamen. The other side threatens
the same, and while in a large per-
centage Of eases outsiders contriye to
suppress the immediate execution of
the menace, Everyone recognizes that
the trouble is only temporarily
patched up, and may break out in an
aggravated form at any time. II the
accusations presented in Chinese
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 indispens-
able to blend with the real grievance
from 10 to 95 per cent. of fiction. The
plaintiff does this as routine practice.
So does the defendant. When the
magistrate happens to feel in good
humor he calls up the case, or quite
as likely he does so when he is in
very bad humor which bodies i'll for
one side, and not infrequently for
both. The first part of Chinese trial
| is likely to be something like the pro-
ceedings in one of our own courts,
great deal of formality and an APP
parent respect for the majesty Of the
law and especially for its representa-
tive, the district magistrate, who is
the Chinese unit of government, But
it is not long before all resemblance
to occidental procedure fades into
thin air. There are no lawyers to pro-
tect the clients. If there really is any
| law bearing on the case in hand, nc
one but experts such as the yamen
secretaries knows what it is. The
magistrate is himself civil and Grim
inal judge, jury and practically the
appellate court. There is no manner
of restraint upon him in his mode OF
asking questions; in the subject of his
inquiries or in his treatment of the
principals or witnesses. The greater
part of the matter brought into a Chi
nese lawsuit would be entirely ruled
out of any British court as totally ir
relevant to the main issue. But in a
Chinese case there often is no main
issue, or issue of any kind, except the
impatient shout Of the official Get
out with you!" (hsia-ch'u LAY, where.
upon all the parties retire and not
improbably not one of them has the
smallest idea where the case has now
got to. Neither, perhaps, has the
magistrate, but for the time he has
had enough of it, and wants to smoke
pipe or two of opium, and will hear
them again when he has a more con
venient season.
But before the case has been dis
missed the respective parties have by
no means been idle. Each of them
has told falsehoods enough to shock
a company prospectus-maker, and as
each party delivers himself of these
fabrications the other finds it impos
sible TO restrain himself, and hoarsely
bawls: "That is a lie!" To this it is
necessary to reply, which is done with
a volubility greatly in contrast to the
quiet of the preliminary stages, when
each replied in a few monosylables
only. From eiaculatory Interruptions
giving the other party the lie, it is
but a stage to angry colloquies of some
length, in which each party struggles
to be heard, each reviles the other
yocferously, and neither party is in
terrupted or reproved by the magis.
trate, who is now engaged in the
process of making up his mind on
the basis Of what he sees and hears
as to which side has the most OF H.
or reason. In the worst stages Of a
! case it often happens that the magis-
trate himself does the reviling, and
Chinese human nature being what il
is, it also sometimes occurs that the
worsted party in the suit revie the
! magistrate, although this is rash, fol
! he may beat them severely for so do
D ing, and then decide the case against
them.-North China Herald.