清代中后期州县衙门“叙供”的文书制作——以《南部档案》为中心

The Composition of Records of Oral Testimony(Xugong )in County Yamen in the Late Qing:Centering on the Nanbu County Archives

有清一代,据供定案是州县官审断的基本方式。口供本乃"证据之王",是堂谕的基础,也是上级部门覆审的重要材料,而翻检清代州县司法档案,经当事人签字画押的原始口供并不见于讼状之中。清中后期的堂审记录,称"叙供"更为妥帖。《南部档案》显示,叙供多由案件承办房的书吏完成,并非仅出于"刑房";叙供经历了由早期不写房名,到后期具体到相应房,甚至兼及书吏名姓的演变;叙述结构,以道光七年、光绪十一年为界,呈现出三种样态。其他地区也多有类似情况,但不在同一时间点,区域性特征明显。一般而言,叙供与两造呈词的基本事实大体相当,但也有不少大相径庭的案卷存在。

In the Qing Dynasty,oral testimony(xugong)was the fundamental basis of county officials' judgments on a case.Such testimony was originally'the king of evidence,'constituting the basis of court decisions(tangyu)and providing important material for review by higher level departments.However,Qing judicial archives show that the original oral testimony on which the defendant's signature or mark was placed did not appear in the indictment.In the mid to late Qing,court records can more appropriately be called'oral testimony compositions.' Nanbu County Archives indicates that these records were composed by clerks in the case handling room rather than the'torture room.'At the beginning,the room concerned was not recorded on these documents,but they later specified the room and even the clerks' names.The narrative structure for the period between the 7 th year of the Daoguang reign(1827)and the 11 th year of the Guangxu reign(1885)is of three types.Other localities tended to have similar arrangements,but at different times and with distinct regional characteristics.Generally speaking,the records of both parties to the case basically correspond,but there are also many instances in which their accounts totally diverge.