조선시대 훼가출향(毁家黜鄕)의성격과 전개 양상

Abstract

‘Hwega Chulhyang, 毁家黜鄕’ refers to a punishment which “tore down the offender’s house and expelled the offender (and its family) from the town.” This punishment was for people who violated the community’s code and culture so much and was therefore deemed unfit to be allowed to live together with the rest of the community, and it was also a punishment that required a consensus within the community. Punishment of this kind seems to have originated in ancient China, and there is a record of it being implemented in the Goryeo period as well. It was not only a State punishment but also a guilt‒by‒association penalty, as the residential privileges of not only the offender but also the offender’s entire family was revoked. Examined in this article is this very punishment observed by the local communities, in order to determine how local prefects and Sajok figures cooperated in regional governance. Punishment of this kind is what may shed some light on how ‘rule by the authorities’ coexisted with local communities’ autonomous control of their own society, and here it is examined over three different periods: the early, middle and final stages of the Joseon dynasty period. First, in the early days of the dynasty, the central government wanted to control local communities. The ‘Bumin Goso Geumjibeob(部民告訴禁止法)’ of King Sejong’s era was a ban on local residents filing lawsuits against each other, and alongside punishments such as Flogging(Do’hyeong, 徒刑) and Exile (Yu’hyeong, 流刑), the above‒mentioned ‘house tearing as well as expulsion from the town’ was also included as a punishment applicable by this law. In Gyeongguk Daejeon it was also legalized under the term ‘Expulsion (Chul’hyang, 黜鄕).’ Secondly, in the 16th century the Sajok figures rose as the governing force of local societies, and in the process the punishment described above became a punishment that was executed by the Sajok community in a rather autonomous fashion(“Hyangbeol, 鄕罰”), as they were trying to distance themselves from the authorities. Thirdly, in later periods, expelling Sajok figures from their hometowns was banned, and as an official procedure only the ‘Treacherous offenders’ and ‘Depraved offenders’ were subjected to the punishment of “destroying the residence and turning them into puddles(‘Paga Jeotaek, 破家瀦澤’),” a punishment that had taken shape around the 16th century. As we can see, local governance by the Hyangjok figures featured different stages in different times, and even though the Sajok community was able to retain some level of autonomy, there were limitations as Joseon was a dynasty governed by a central authority.