The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-20
Chinese Go to Law on
Slight Provocation.
TULEY'S DECISION.
Suit Against San Francisco
Typographical Union,

For peaceful people the Chinese ap-
pear TO be a most litigious race. The
moment that quarrel begins to be-
come serious one or the other of the
parties is likely to shout eXcitedly: i
VIII go to the city!'-that is to present
his formal accusation at the yamen.
The other side threatens the same, and
while in a large percentage Of cases
outsiders Contrive to suppress the i'm
mediate execution Of the menace, every
one recognizes that the trouble is only
temporarily patched up and may break
out in an aggravated form at any time.
If the accusations presented in Chinese
courts were confined to anything. like
the facts in the case. says the North
China Herald, there would be no case
at all for nine-tenthS of them. There
fore, it is considered indispensable to
blend with the real grievance from 10
TO IS per cent of fiction. The plaintif,
doet this as routine practice. So does
the defendant When the magistrate
happens to feel in a good humor he
calls up the case, or quite as likely he
does so when he is in a very bad hui
NOR which bodies i'll for one side, and
not infrequently for both. The first
part Of a Chinese trial is likely 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 ma
gistrate, who is the Chinese unit of
government. But it is not long before
all resemblance to Occidental proce-
dure fades into thin air There are no
lawyers to protect the clients. If there
really is any law bearing on the case
in hand, no one but experts such as the
Namen secretaries knows what it is.
The magistrate is himself civil and
criminal judge, jury and practically
the appellate court. There is no man
her of restraint upon him in his mods
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
Chlnese lawsuit would be entirely ruled
out of any British court as totally IL
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 YoE' thsia-ch'u la). where
upon all the parties retire. and not i'm
probably not one Of them has the
smallest idea where the case has now
got to- Neither, perhaps, has the ma
gistrate, but for the time he has had
enough of it and wants to smoke a
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 com
pany prospectus maker. and as each
party delivers himself of these fabrica-
lions the other finds ii impossible ia
restrain himself and R0arsely bavls.
. mat is lie!' To this it is necessary
TO reply. which is done with a volubilitv
greatly in contrast TO the quiet of the
preliminary stages, when each replied
IN a few monOsyllables only. From
e1aculatory Interruptions giving the
other party the lie, it is but a stage
TO angry collOquies of some length, in
winch each party struggles to be heard
each reNiles the other yociferously and
neither party is interrupted or reproved
by the magistrate, who is now engaged
III the process of making up his MIR
on the basis of what he sees and hears
as TO which side has the most of Ii.
or reason. In the worst stages of a
case it often happens that the magis
tfate himself does the reviling, and,
thlhese human nature being what it
IS, II also sometimes occurs that the
Worsted party in the suit reviles the
maglsuate. although this is rash. for
ne may beat them severely for so doing
and then decide the case against them