明清判牍中的亲属争讼

A Study of Disputes among Relatives in the Compilation of Cases in Ming and Qing Dynasties

内容提要:明清时期,民众为日常小利争讼,甚至发生斗殴命案并不鲜见。对《折狱新语》和《槐卿政迹》中判牍的统计表明,亲属争讼的比例约占三成左右。兄弟、叔嫂、婶侄之间争讼之激烈,让我们很难想象当时的社会存在普遍的伦理约束。同时,宗族权威并没能有效地化解亲属争讼,宗族观念更多地成为侵夺利益的藉口,而不是伦理规范的后盾。因此,明清时期的儒家伦理对民众行为的影响可能需要重新检讨。

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, disputes among common people over trifling interests often led to lawsuits, even to homicide cases. Statistics in two compilations of cases at that time - Li Qing＇ s ＂Zhe Yu Xin Yu＂ and Shen Yanqing＇ s ＂Huai Qing Zheng Ji＂ - showed that about 30% of the lawsuits during that period involved relatives. Those disputes were so fierce that it＇s hard to imagine any general ethical constraints existed at that time. Meanwhile, the authority of clan failed to effectively resolve disputes among relatives; rather, it had become more of an excuse for infringing upon others＇ interests than a backup of ethical norms. Therefore, the influence of Confucian ethics on behaviors of the populace in the Ming and Qing dynasties may need to be reexamined.