禮教、契約、生存──試析明清民事審判中的衡平原則

Moral Ethics, Agreements, and Subsistence: An Essay on Equitable Principles in Civil Justice during the Ming-Qing Period

過去二十多年來，明清中國的民事審判之「法源」問題引起了許多研究者的關注，圍繞著「情、理、法」的討論十分活躍。與「情、理、法」不同，本文以「禮教、契約、生存」三個要素為中心，試圖進一步具體地分析支撐明清民事審判的內在邏輯。在明清民事審判中這三個要素發揮作用的程度，按事案性質而不同。本文第三節和第四節分別討論了有關田宅買賣（就中找價回贖問題）和人口買賣（就中買妻、典妻問題）的審判過程中，官員們怎樣考慮這些要素來追求達到平允的結論。總而言之，在土地買賣的領域，法律站在重視「契約」的立場，地方官處理找價回贖訴訟時的主要著眼點也在「契約」（法），而「生存」、「禮教」則作為次要要素，對「契約」（法）的僵硬性發揮緩和作用。與此不同，在買妻、典妻等有關人倫的領域，法律站在較為嚴格的「禮教」立場，而「契約」、「生存」作為次要要素，對「禮教」（法）的僵硬性發揮緩和作用。非但地方官的裁斷在這三個要素之間有隨事權衡的靈活性，法律（或其解釋）本身也在這些要素之間，摸索平允的均衡點而不斷變化，即便其靈活性遠不及於地方審判。

Scholars have long been arguing over the main basis of magistrates’ judgements in civil justice of Ming-Qing China. This article analyzes Ming-Qing officials’ way of thinking focusing on the three elements that guided their consideration----that is, “lijiao (moral ethics)”, “qiyue (agreements)”, and “shengcun (subsistence)”----, instead of long discussed “qing (human considerations), li (moral principles), fa (laws)”. Chapter 3 and 4 of this article respectively deal with lawsuits concerning land disputes and wife-selling. Through the analysis of these cases, this article argues that the relative importance of these three elements were different according to the kinds of disputes. In the land disputes, the qiyue element had priority, while in the wife-selling cases, the lijiao element was more emphasized. In any case, however, Ming-Qing officials used to take these three elements into consideration in order to pass the judgements that they thought equitable.