19세기 공동납과 마을자치

Abstract

In the late 19th century, Mosan-dong jointly paid most of the prefecture tax, which is a poll tax. When the village collected goods from the villagers in preparation for various expenses, their economic ability was carefully considered. Just as the government struggled to realize equal taxation, villages also tried to keep villagers from being dissatisfied. As a result, the village was able to collect various goods from villagers without much difficulties. And a high level of community autonomy was realized in the late 19th century. As the joint tax payment system was activated, the force pressing the village became much stronger than before. Before that, it only had to deal with Gunhyeon, middle level of administrative district, but now you have to deal with Myeonjung, small administrative district, in addition to that. Therefore, the joint tax payment system can be said to be a more sophisticated taxation system than the previous ‘individual tax payment’ system. Mosan-dong in the second half of the 19th century was always in tension due to unforeseen external pressures Not only regular taxes, but also lots of unknown miscellaneous charges were suddenly imposed. And various institutions, various officials, and influential people from far and near came from time to time to harass the village. Each time the village appeased them with money and sent them back. As such, when the village was being bullied from the outside, the government [the country] just stood by and did not come up with any solution. Like this, the village was exhausted from enduring external harassment and had no strength to take a look inside. The high level of autonomy realized by the village in the 19th century was only to prepare for external demands. The village did not discuss anything related to production. There was no discussion about when and how much villagers would be put into rice planting or weeding work in a house that lacks manpower. The village considered that such problems were issues that the home and villagers, who lacked manpower, would take care of themselves. The village didn't think deeply about how villagers could get wealthy. The village only cared about collecting enough goods to cover the necessary expenses. To be precise, the village had no power to encourage villagers to increase production. This was because no one from the central government, Gunhyeon, or Myeonjung gave such power to the village. Village autonomy in the 19th century was different from the autonomy of a medieval manor or a Mura in the Edo period. In the 19th century, villages in Joseon only cared about distribution, but manor and Mura discussed distribution and production together. The government also changed accounts so that the joint tax payment system can operate smoothly. The basic prefecture tax ledger related to joint tax payment was the family register. Various prefecture taxes were imposed based on the number of houses registered in the family register. Therefore, the government tried to make 'Ho(house)' registered in the family register homogeneous. It was recommended that all heads of family be called Yuhak, and a family register should be filled out with one slave in every house. In the joint tax payment system, as villagers were jointly responsible for payment, the government needed to make villagers homogeneous. The government continued its ideological campaign to ensure that the joint tax payment system can be operated smoothly. Hyangyak, which appeared and disappeared quickly in the 16th and 17th centuries, spread like an active volcano in the mid to late 19th century. The spread of Hyangyak was directly related to the activation of joint tax payment. The four virtues of Hyangyak are: Good things encourage each other(德業相勸), Rebuke each other for wrongdoing(過失相規), We must be polite when socializing with each other(禮俗相交), Help each other in disasters and difficulties(患難相恤), and it means dividing equally. This sounded like a saying that if a neighbor is struggling with the tax burden, you should help out. On the other hand, there was nothing related to increased production anywhere in the virtues of Hyangyak. Increasing production was a task that the people had to achieve on their own.