明代公案小說插圖中的動物形象初探

In Search of the Animal Images in Illustrations of Court-Case Fictions of Ming Dynasty

大部分中國法史的研究，著重在法令典章及法律思想的探討，對於在法律運作中同樣重要的庶民法律文化，則較少觸及。明代的小說隨著商業書坊的興起而逐漸崛起，為社會上各種不同階層的識字者所閱讀。其中，於萬曆年間(1573-1620)興起的公案小說，描寫司法審判，並在書中插入許多圖像，成為了晚明流行的通俗小說類型。對公案小說插圖的研究，應有助於對庶民法律文化的探索。
明代公案小說的插圖，時有動物出現在其中。究竟，本應以人為主角的法律故事，為何有動物顯現？其角色、意義為何？根據本文的初步研究，動物在明代公案小說有著兩種形象：申冤者或受審者。動物可以向地方官替冤死之人申訴冤屈，使罪人受到應有的制裁；亦可以在地方危害人類，成為公堂上被審判處死的犯罪者。這兩種迥異，且在現今以人為主之法律世界格格不入的形象，反映著明代庶民法律文化對於天人感應的理解及對於盡責清官的想像。動物在這些故事當中，可說是遊走於人與物之間，顯示出明代傳統法律文化的獨特性質。

Most of the research in Chinese legal history focused on the statutes and legal thoughts. On the other hand, it seldom touches the legal culture of the common people. Novels gradually grew along with the rise of the publishing houses, and were read by literates of different classes. Rising in the era of Wan-Li, Court-case fictions portrayed the court trial and were rich in illustrations. Court-case fictions finally became the prevalent type of novels in the late Ming Dynasty. Therefore, researching in illustrations of court-case fictions could help us to dig in the legal culture of the common people.
Animals sometimes appear in the illustrations of court-case fictions of Ming Dynasty. Why they appear in the stories of trial whose main characters were supposed to be human? What is the character and meaning of the animals that appeared? According to this preliminary research, animals had two images in court-case fictions of Ming Dynasty, which were someone appealing for redressing the injustice or being trialled in the court. The animals could appeal for the victim of murder, in order to let the murderer be punished. They could also harm people, become the defendant, and be executed. These two widely different images are incompatible with the modern legal world based on human. They reflect the sense of interaction between heaven and mankind and the imagination of the responsible pure officials. The animals in these stories were sometimes“human”, sometimes“things”, showing the unique feature of the traditional legal culture of Ming Dynasty.