Qualities of Mercy: Capital Punishment and the Royal Prerogative in Familial Cases in the Chosŏn Records of Adjudications (Simnirok)

Abstract

This article examines how royal mercy is articulated in homicide cases involving the family in the Records of Adjudications (Simnirok), a collection of over one thousand capital offenses reviewed by King Chŏngjo (r. 1776–1800) of Chosŏn Korea (1392–1910). Simni (“adjudications”) review comprised case memorials by provincial and metropolitan authorities and the royal judgments written in response to them. It was the king’s prerogative to endorse or commute any death sentence issued by officials below, and Chŏngjo’s judgments often find grounds for leniency. Previous studies of the Simnirok have examined the collection in light of late Chosŏn jurisprudence and social history, but have rarely subjected the narrative constructions and discursive strategies of the king with respect to highly contentious facts to close analysis. By examining select cases in the Simnirok involving domestic battery, adultery, and filial vengeance, this article examines how the “truth” behind each case and its legal implications are contextualized, constructed, or contested in view of orthodox values that are often patriarchal, and how Chŏngjo’s judgments project the persona of a benevolent and circumspect Confucian sage ruler who grants mercy largely within the bounds of the law.