Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 12.pdf/456

 The Law of the Chinaman. the most dashing man in the county when he married her, the year after Sir George B. died, who married her soon after her first husband's death. But I hear the Major is now a martyr to gout, and there is no know ing how long he may live. He owns the beautiful estate just adjoining the old Manor Park; the whole forms the most perfect property in the county of Berkshire." "And is the Major's wife as beautiful as ever?" "The handsomest lady in the whole county, Mr. Borret. Her portrait was in the Royal

423

Academy last year, and was considered a masterpiece of portrait painting. If the Major should die, one cannot, of course, say what may happen; but as long as she is lady of the manor I shall hope to be steward." "And are you yourself still as determined an old bachelor as ever, sir?" I asked. "Yes, verily and by— I was going to say my catechism; I mean to remain a bachelor, by the help of Providence, until the time comes for me to render the account of all my stewardships."

THE LAW OF THE CHINAMAN.' Though a man with a sharp sword should cut one's body bit by bit, let no angry thought arise, let the mouth speak no ill word.— Fo-SHO-H ING TSAN-KING.

SO natural has it become, says the Law Times, to treat everything connected with the Celestial Empire as either comic or semi-barbaric, that the denizen of Pump Court will start and rub his eyes when he hears from the latest authority that, in many respects, the Chinese penal code is superior to the Eng lish system. Mr. Alabaster's work comes as a most refreshing change from the too often dry and dreary pages which the legal reviewer is commended to scan from year's end to year's end. A book which trans ports one from the musty cloisters of statute and case law into an atmosphere of quaint customs and breezy anecdote, shot through and through with the golden threads of even justice, demands a broader treatment than the heading " Law Library " would warrant. Legal practitioners are few and far between in China; in fact, it can hardly be said that there are either counsel or solicitors. A semi-official class exists who solve the more difficult forensic problems; they are called shih ¿. The tai s/in must be a brave set of men; they qualify for drawing up petitions,

but the work is fraught with danger. One poor old fellow of seventy got three years' transportation for drawing up five petitions. Advocacy is equally risky; a scholar was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and eighty blows from the heavy bamboo for try ing to reduce a criminal's offense from mur der to manslaughter. Chinese apathy when some villainy is being clone is largely due to fear of the law, which says that "persons must not interfere unless they have a right to do so by reason of relationship." The code is an effectual check on judicial and forensic genius. The duties of the Judge are confined to determining the facts and the article of the code they agree with. Thus the sentence is fixed without variation to begin with, and any circumstances atténuantes are considered by the Judiciary Board at Peking, to whom the great majority of capi tal sentences are referred for revision every autumn. The list of those who should by right be executed is then submitted to the Emperor, who decrees their fate in a curious way. The names are written on a large sheet of paper, those being considered less 'Notes and commentaries on Chinese Criminal Law. guilty being placed near the corners or the cen By Ernest Alabaster, Barrister at Jaw, London, Luzae tre. The Emperor than draws a vermillion ft Co,