Legal History Review vol.65 (2015)
Summaries of Articles


Criminal procedure in Medieval England: mainly based on the cases of guilty of felony
by Kaoru KITANO
Keywords: Medieval England, Criminal Procedure, Felony, Indictment, Appeal
 
  This essay stands as the supplement for my former essay on the criminal procedure for criminal trespasses in Medieval England. Together, both essays now can visualise almost the whole picture of the system of criminal trials. Especially this essay treats, as its second focus alongside the procedure starting with the indictment, the procedure starting with the appeals of felony. The appeals of felony, although known as an older procedure for trial of felons, has not been given much attention in the studies of legal history, because legal historians have thought it was on the way of decaying to the substantial vanishment at the end of the Middle Ages.
  As for the first focus, on the cases of felony starting with the indictments, I had no other choice than to limit my attention to the cases ended up with conviction. There are so many records of criminal cases ending up with the judgment of quit (quietus and sine die as well), or have no record of judgment somehow or other. The conviction cases are relatively rare, and although theoretically should be followed by the hanging, there are so many special processes for passing the execution. I tried to cover all those special processes, and the relatively small variations of processes along with the cases of appeal of felony as well. Also, I suppose the readers will realize the (at least partial) resemblance of the process of appeal with the civil procedures of the time. It was strongly a ‘personal’ or ‘private’ way to use the king’s court for the persecution of personal interests under the name of felony. And, as such, at least until the end of the Middle Ages alongside with the indictment, or even prior to it, the people continued to choose the appeal of felony an means to satisfy their interests, and the king’s courts gave the process of appeals of felony the priority before the process of indictments.
  However, this essay ends with the minutes and details of the both processes. On this foundation, it can now be the next concern to analyse the background of the development of those special processes and the ways and reasons of using the appeals for persecution, now found not decaying at least at the end of 14th and the beginning of 15th centuries.


Exploring Ancient Korean Legal History: Past and Future
by Shigeru HASHIMOTO, LEE Sungsi
Keywords: Ancient Korean Legal History, study on Ritsuryo, wooden tablets of Baekje, wooden tablets of Silla, wooden tablets of Korea, stone inscriptions of Goguryo, stone inscriptions of Silla
 
  Since the 1970s, uncovering of new material sources such as stone inscriptions and wooden tablets with inscription (hereafter called “wooden tablets”) has enabled us to challenge the formerly insurmountable obstacle to explore the ancient Korean legal history. Namely, after the 2000s, with ever increasing cases of the excavated wooden tablets from the sixth to seventh century Silla and Baekje, the topic has so far attracted enormous scholarly attention. What we should not miss here is that the wooden tablets also shed light from a different angle to the ancient Japanese legal system.
  Yet, recent prominent works on the excavated materials by Korean scholarship have scarcely been introduced to the Japanese academia, leading us to miss the opportunities to examine the mutual relation on the legal tradition between ancient Korea and Japan.
  To bridge the gap between the two scholarships, this article aims to introduce the latest findings by the Korean scholarship to the Japanese counterpart, highlighting the major discussions in the recent decade. Therefore, also paying attention to the Japanese scholarship in the field, it attempts to pave a future avenue to further examine the ancient Korean legal history.


The Current Progression of the Studies on Criminal Law History in the Joseon Dynasty
by Kenji KINOSHITA
Keywords: History of Studies, Joseon Dynasty, Criminal Law, The Great Ming Code
 
  The purpose of this study is to summarize the main studies on the criminal law history, and to show the current issues and the possibilities of future development before Reform of 1894 (甲午改革) in the Joseon (朝鮮) Dynasty (1392-1910).
  First of all, we will outline the characteristics of the results of the studies on the criminal law history in the Joseon Dynasty up to the present. Second, I will explain the recent studies about the effect of the Ming code(明律) in legislating special law in Joseon. Third, as a case in which different punishment law legislated specially in Joseon, I will give some cases, for example the punishment for robbery and commute a death sentence for private revenge. Forth, I will introduce the judicial branches concerning the criminal trial. Fifth, I will classify the two criminal proceedings as Hyongjo(刑曹) took the lead and Uigeumbu(義禁府) presided over that, and explain the concrete content of the criminal proceedings including petition, execution and pardon.
  Finally, I will show some problems to be solved and possibility of future development of the Studies on Criminal Law History in the Joseon Dynasty, such as to investigate the local criminal trial and the judicial court for the discipline and punishment of military personnel, classification of historical periods, and to publish an introductory textbook about legal history of Korea.


Der Stand der heutigen Hexenforschung
by Shigeko KOBAYASHI
 
  Der vorliegende Beitrag zielt darauf ab, einen Überblick über den Forschungsstand der historischen Hexenforschung zu geben und weitere Möglichkeiten zur Verbindung mit deren Nebenbereichen zu diskutieren. Die neuere Hexenforschung besteht aus zwei großen Forschungsfeldern, zum einen die Gerichts- und Herrschaftspraxis, zum anderen die Hexenrepräsentationen. Angeregt durch den neu entwickelnden Bereich der historischen Kriminalitätsforschung, versucht man durch den Vergleich mit anderen Delikten, das Hexereidelikt in die allgemeine Strafjustiz einzuordnen. Das Instrumentalisierungsmodel, das die Hexenverfolgung aus politischen Motiven unterschiedlicher Akteuere erklärt, wird durch mehrere Fallbeispiele unterstützt. Diese politischen Erklärungsversuche werden jedoch durch das anthropologisch- ethnologische Verständnis zur magischen Weltanschauung in frühneuzeitlichen Staaten und Gesellschaften relativiert. Auch der Zusammenhang zwischen Hexenverfolgung und Staatsbildung wird diskutiert – dies insbesondere unter Berücksichtigung der Rolle der gelehrten Juristen und einzelner Interessengruppen in Gemeinden sowie lokaler Beamten in Hexenprozessen, die als Indikatoren für die frühneuzeitliche Herrschaft von Nutzen sein können.
  Für die Hexenrepräsentation werden nicht nur die gelehrte Dämonologie, sondern auch verschiedene Medien, wie Bilder, Flugblätter und Holzschnitte als Ganzes analysiert, wobei der „Visual Turn“ im soziologisch-medienwissenschaftlichen Bereich berücksichtigt wird. In den Studien, deren Schwerpunkt auf dem Gender der Hexenverfolgung liegt, werden nicht mehr nur das weibliche Geschlecht, sondern auch der vorher kaum thematisierte Aspekt der Männlichkeit in Hexenprozessen zum Forschungsgegenstand. Da die Hexenforschung, wie oben skizziert, ein weites Forschungsfeld bildet, wäre eine verstärkte interdisziplinäre Zusammenarbeit in Japan im Rahmen von Forschungsprojekten noch wünschenswert.