Mêng-ku Lü-li and Li-fan-yuan Tse-li

Abstract

In the Meng-ku Lu-li and the Li-fan-yuan Tse-li, which are well known as the legislation enforced by the Ching dynasty on the Mongol tribes, are to be found laws and precedents originating from the Mongol law, such as penal regulations based on the principle of compensation, and the indigenous marriage regulations. These have been singled out and a comparative study made on the statutes of Western Mongolia-Oirat or Northern Mongolia-Khalkah, of that time because it was thought that the legal usages of Inner Mongolia under the Ching dynasty rule could be redintegrated. In recent years, considerable interest has been aroused in the study of the original text of the Mogol statutes. By making profitable use of the findings, the writer plans to undertake the above study. However, in order to do so, there will be need to clarify the character of the Meng-ku Lu-li and the Li fan-yuan Tse-li, both of which will serve as criteria. Intended to serve as an introduction, so to say, to the above issues, this paper will proceed to make an exclusive discussion of the two statutes.To date, it is not definitely known when the compendium of statutes appearing in the form of the Meng-ku Lu-li came into being. In this paper, the view is advanced that it actually assumed the semblance of a code referred to as Lu-li by including precedents in the statutes, under instructions from KAO-Tsung, early in the 5th year of the Chien Lung era and most probably became law sometime between the 30th and 40th year of the above Chien Lung era. However, from the standpoint of the principle of personal jurisdiction, a compilation of precedents for the Mongol tribes in actual court proceedings was considered necessary, and it is presumed that, for this reason, a collection of laws and precedents, thought to be the forerunner of the Meng-ku Lu-li, was already in use earlier than the Chien Lung era, in other words, about the middle of the Kang Hsi era. Furthermore, the Meng-ku Lu-li apparently underwent revision a number of times until, in the 19th year of the Chia Ching era (1814), it assumed the form we know today.. On the other hand, the Li-fan-yuan Tse-li dates back to the 16th year of the Chia Ching era, when the Tse-li Compilation Institute was established to undertake revision, and the law was promulgated in the 22nd year of the Chia Ching era (1816). This is considered the oldest legislation. Furthermore, it has been ascertained by means of historical records that the Meng-ku Lu-li, prepared in the 54th year of the Chien Lung era (1789) has served as the original text for compilation of these statutes.The Meng-ku Lu-li incorporates a number of administrative regulations imposed by the Ching dynasty-on, Mongol, as well as numerous penal and judicial regulations. On the other hand, the Li-fan-yuan Tse-li embodies administrative regulations over a wide scope, embracing the LAMA and Thibetan precedents, together with the Russian precedents, and even penal and judicial regulations, the same as the Meng-ku Lü-li. So far the connection between the two has not been clarified, but because of the fact that the initial compilation of the Li-fan-yuan Tse-li was based on the original text of the Meng-ku Lu-li ; also, that, after completion of the Li fan-yuan Tse-li, revisions were undertaken during the Tao Kuang and Kuang Hsii eras, whereas the Meng-ku Lu-li has remained unchanged since the Chia Ching era, (1814). The writer has thus come to the conclusion that the Meng-ku Lü-li. was absorbed in the Li fan yuan Tse-li; and became, in effect, -defunct as a result. As, from the above, . the nature of the legislation aimed at the Mongol tribes by the Ching dynasty has been clarified, the writer desires hereafter to make a study of the various provisions of the statutes, and to look into the substance of the Mongol law reflected therein, as well as the various legal usages of the people of Inner Mongoria under the Ching dynasty rule.