Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/80

 by a morbid desire to witness scenes of bloodshed. On the other hand, the Government took care that the prelude and the sequel of an execution should force themselves on general attention. The condemned man, his hands and arms tightly bound, was placed on horseback and carried to the execution-ground under escort of a band of beggars, the melancholy procession lengthening its route so as to pass through all the principal streets. After execution the head was exposed for several days under a placard setting forth the criminal's offence.

From the beginning of the Tokugawa era judicial procedure was ostensibly governed by principles showing considerable enlightenment. In order to prevent frivolous litigation, it was enacted that any one instituting a suit in the face of oral or documentary evidence clearly showing him to be in the wrong, should be either fined or imprisoned. Every case fell within the jurisdiction of the nearest local tribunal, and the integrity of the latter's procedure being nominally guaranteed by the central government, suitors were warned against appealing to Yedo, the consequence of a groundless appeal being death or imprisonment. All persons discharging judicial functions were enjoined to practise absolute impartiality, to observe the canons of the samurai, to live strictly within their means, not to engage in any transactions of trade, and to hear cases uniformly in the order of their institution. A wholesome rule applied to documentary