扶安金氏愚磻古文書최두명․김득문 소송 관련 자료 번역

Abstract

In the old Uban documents of the Buan Kim lineage, there is a feature that makes them distinct from documents in the custody of the other lineages or clans. It is the rawness of the unedited material. The documents have been preserved as they were originally, and have been uncensored by the descendants of the lineage. Thus, they reveal the actual picture of the lineage without distortion. There is value in the frank description of the lineage members’ private activities. In these documents, we can witness the members’ great efforts to build personal relationships with capital-based aristocrats and influential regional families by sending an enormous number of gifts to them. It is also observed in the documents that those powerful people, in return for the gifts, helped the Kims to get out of trouble, when they were at a disadvantage in a lawsuit. This reciprocal behavior shares some similarities with bribery schemes. In the thirty-sixth year (1760) of King Yeongjo’s reign, for example, the lawsuit between the heir Kim Deuk-mun and a commoner, Choe Du-myeong, was concluded in favor of Kim, who maintained a close relationship through gifts with the prestigious Bannam Pak family over several generations. This is evidenced by a letter sent by Pak to Kim, which is preserved in the Buan Kims’ collection of old documents. In this study, all the documents related to the lawsuit, including the letter, are collected, translated, and annotated. Moreover, they are reinterpreted in favor of the plaintiff Choe who lost the case, and against the accused Kim, who won the lawsuit against all odds. In addition, the magistrate’s inquest record and the governor’s ruling are reevaluated and criticized for the unfair treatment of the commoner Choe.