尊長權與貞節的衝突──以刑案匯覽中「子婦拒姦殺傷伊翁」類案件為例

How Severely Will a Woman be Punished by the Legal System in Qing-Dynasty, when She Killed or Injured Her Husband’s Father that Attempted to Rape Her?: An Example of the Conflict between Privileges of Elders in the Family and Women’s Chastity

尊長權與貞節都是傳統中國法律所要表彰的重要價值，國家法律固然透過刑罰等許多制度強調尊長人身的不可侵犯性，但也藉由親屬相姦的相關刑罰規定，揭示卑幼與尊長的貞節均受保護，而尊長強姦卑幼之處罰，並不比卑幼強姦尊長要輕。然而這兩種價值也可能發生衝突。在清代最具代表性的刑事案件彙編，刑案匯覽中，收錄了不少親屬間的強姦案件，也不乏被害人反擊而殺傷加害人的案例，而且甚至如至親至尊之公公也會強姦媳婦，也有因此遭媳婦殺傷或殺死的實例。此時國家法律將面臨對於尊長權與卑幼貞節之保護的權衡：當身為卑幼的媳婦因拒姦而殺傷或殺死加害的公公時，國家法律要如何對待這些不幸的媳婦？是否從輕發落？以及可以減輕到什麼地步？在斟酌是否減輕，以及減輕的程度時，官方的考量基準又何在？本文以兩則刑案匯覽中媳婦因拒姦而殺傷公公的案件為例，藉由相關律例以及刑事審判實務的分析，論證尊卑雙法在法律制度中的相對地位。本文認為，由於禮教立法的格局，國家法律優先保護尊長，而相對壓抑卑幼，因此在尊卑相犯的案件中，不論是非曲直如何，卑幼整體而言是居於弱勢，而在直系親屬之間，這樣的地位差異則達於極致。

The privileges of Elders and the Chastity of Women are both advocated by the law in ancient China. Those who injured the elders will be severely punished, whereas the chastity of women were also protected with the penal law. However, the task of advocating privileges of elders and chastity of women could be a hard work for jurists, when an elder, such as husband’s father, attempted to rape his junior relative, such as son’s wife, and therefore be injured or killed through the self defense of the victim. Our question is: Were the privileges of elders or the chastity of junior to be emphasized at first? According to the research in this article, we believe that the welfare of elder was prior to the chastity of junior in the legal system, and this priority would reach an extreme, when the crime was committed between lineal relatives.