淸代 후반 대만의 사법행정과 換刑 - 淡新檔案의 강도 사건을 일례로

Abstract

This study shows the reality of local penal procedures in the late Qing era and new punish- ments in lieu of the old five punishments, which emerged as a result of the Qing penal system. On April 16, 1876, a merchant who was returning from selling medicinal herbs was robbed by four young men. The perpetrators were arrested by local personnel and were brought to trial. After trial by the local offices, the main culprit of the robbery was immediately executed, and the remaining three were sentenced to indefinite detention to a block of stone. In this case, the punishment of the four criminals and the method of decision were differ- ent from the general legal system of the Qing, and there were two factors of it. First, the Qing dynasty's judicial system. The Qing government adhered to the traditional Five Punishments. It placed excessive demands on the administrative power of local governments. In particular, the punishment of exile, which required the transfer and management of the criminal, was a great burden to local governments. Eventually, after the 18th century, local governments be- gan to use simpler punishments instead of the Five Punishments. Second, the nature of Taiwan region. The trial system of the Qing dynasty required retrial system based on the type of crime and the severity of the sentence. This caused a great admin- istrative burden in remote places such as Taiwan, because criminals had to travel back and forth between Fujian and Taiwan for trial. In order to address this, the central government al- lowed completing trials in Taiwan when the sentences were below a certain level of punishment. However, there was still the problem of sending criminals to the mainland for exile. The death penalty of immediate execution and the detention penalty chaining criminals to a block of stone, allowed all four perpetrators to be punished quickly without leaving Taiwan. These methods were possible because of the two characteristics of the Qing penal system men- tioned above and the search for ways to escape the administrative burden from that.