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Circulating the Code Print Media and Legal Knowledge in Qing China
Title
Circulating the Code [electronic resource] : Print Media and Legal Knowledge in Qing China / Ting Zhang.
ISBN
029574717X
9780295747170
9780295747156
9780295747163
Edition
1st.
Published
Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2020. (Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2015)
Physical Description
1 online resource
Local Notes
Access is available to the Yale community.
Notes
Description based on print version record.
Access and use
Access restricted by licensing agreement.
Summary
"Expanded dissemination of legal information during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) transformed Chinese law, judicial authority, and popular legal consciousness. This volume combines methodologies from the study of print culture and legal history to compare different official and commercial editions of the Qing Code, popular handbooks for amateur legal practitioners, and manuals for community legal lectures. It challenges the prevalent assumption that the Qing government monopolized the production and circulation of legal information and that local officials and the common people had little legal knowledge. During the Qing, most legal books were commercially published and available to anyone who could afford to buy them. Commercial publishers thus had greater power and influence in producing authoritative legal texts-including The Great Qing Code-than did official publishers. These publishers extended the circulation of legal texts and enhanced the judicial authority of unofficial legal commentaries by making them more broadly available in convenient formats. Law was no longer privileged knowledge monopolized by the imperial state and high elites. Accurate legal information was widely available through text and oral channels in the Qing, and both officials and commoners had ready access to it. The flourishing trade in commercial legal imprints contributed to the formation of a new legal culture, with features that included the free flow of accurate legal information, the rise of nonofficial legal experts, a large law-savvy population, and a high litigation rate in local society"-- Provided by publisher.
Variant and related titles
Project MUSE - 2020 Asian and Pacific Studies.
Project MUSE - 2020 Complete.
Project MUSE - 2020 History.
Other formats
Online version: Zhang, Ting, Circulating the code 1st. Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2020.
Format
Books / Online
Language
English
Added to Catalog
March 18, 2020
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Introduction
chapter 1. Qing legislation and imperial editions of the Great Qing Code
chapter 2. Commercial publications of the code
chapter 3. Reading the code
chapter 4. Law and legal information in popular handbooks
chapter 5. Popular legal education
Conclusion: the impact of printing on law and legal culture.
Subjects
Also listed under
Project Muse.
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