Wrongful deaths
Subtitle: selected inquest records from nineteenth-century Korea
By: compiled and translated by Sun Joo Kim and Jungwon Kim
Series: Korean studies of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies; Korean studies of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 253
ISBN-13: 9780295993126; 9780295993133
Subjects: Wrongful death; Court records; Social classes; Sources; Courts; Social conditions; Law; History
Description: "This collection presents and analyzes inquest records that tell the stories of ordinary Korean people under the Chosŏn court (1392-1910). Extending the study of this period, usually limited to elites, into the realm of everyday life, each inquest record includes a detailed postmortem examination and features testimony from everyone directly or indirectly related to the incident. The result is an amazingly vivid, colloquial account of the vibrant, multifaceted societal and legal cultures of early modern Korea. Sun Joo Kim is the Harvard-Yenching Professor of Korean History at Harvard University. Jungwon Kim is assistant professor of Korean history at Columbia University; 'This book provides an extremely rare view into social interactions among people of quite different classes in Chosŏn Korea. Points of interest abound'--Robert E. Hegel, Washington University, St. Louis; 'This is an important contribution that significantly advances our knowledge of nineteenth-century Korean legal history. The translated cases shine by being able to introduce daily struggles of non-elites and illustrate the complex dynamics of the judiciary system during the last century of the Chosŏn dynasty'--Jisoo Kim, George Washington University"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Map of Nineteenth-Century Korea; title: Introduction: Chosŏn Korea in Its Last Century; title: Case 1: An Adulterous Widower Meets a Violent Death, Yang Hang-nyŏn (P'yŏngyang, P'yŏngan Province, 1866); title: Case 2: A Family Activist Confronts a Local Magnate, Ms. Pak (Yongin, Kyŏnggi Province, Late Eighteenth Century); title: Case 3: A Defiant Slave Challenges His Master with Death, Yi Pong-dol (Anoi, Kyŏngsang Province, 1842); title: Case 4: Two Widows Fight, Madam Chang and Ms. On (Yech'ŏn, Kyŏngsang Province, 1842); title: Case 5: A Heartless Wet Nurse Abuses an Infant, Mun Chong-ji (Chunghwa, P'yŏngan Province, 1866); title: Case 6: A Widower Seeks Private Settlement, Ms. Chŏng (Yŏngchʻŏn, Kyŏngsang Province, 1889); title: Case 7: Adultery Leads to Murder, Ms. Paek (Anak, Hwanghae Province, 1897); title: Case 8: An Illegal Burial Begets a Son but Kills a Relative, Kim Kap-san (Hoeyang, Kangwŏn Province, 1899); title: Glossary.