The Itemized Regulations for Trying Penal Matters: A Translation of the Legal Code of China's Ming Dynasty

FAIN: FB-51906-05

Yonglin Jiang
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater (Stillwater, OK 74078-0001)

The goal of my project is to complete a translation of and introduction to the ITEMIZED REGULATIONS FOR TRYING PENAL MATTERS (Wenxing tiaoli, 1585), an important piece of legislation in the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The codification of the ITEMIZED REGULATIONS changed the course of legislative history in late imperial China. It supplemented and revised the dynastic GREAT MING CODE, and imposed considerable impact on the legal system of the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644-1911). A translation of this legal document will greatly benefit our understanding of Chinese history as well as comparative law. The support of the NEH Fellowship will enable me to make the manuscript ready for publication by the end of 2006.