Social Power and Legal Culture - Litigation Masters in Late Imperial China

"A fascinating account. . . . [Macauley] has put forth sophisticated arguments which will guide the next round of archival discoveries in Chinese legal and social history."--Eighteenth-Century Studies
"Macauley's book will be important reading for those who want to understand both the stereotypes and the realities of legal culture of imperial China. It is wonderfully rich in archival material, and its treatment of case materials constitutes document reading at its very best."--American Historical Review

About the author

Melissa Macauley is Assistant Professor of History at Northwestern University.

Summary

Asserting that litigation in late imperial China was a form of documentary warfare, this book offers a social analysis of the men who composed legal documents. Litigation masters emerge as central players in many of the most scandalous cases in 18th- and 19th-century China.

Additional text

"This work pushes the reader to move beyond interpretive clichés to consider new ways of looking at Qing law, legal institutions, and judicial administration, and Macauley has broadened the methodological and interpretive approaches to all three."

Product details

• Authors: Melissa MacAuley, MacAuley Melissa
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.12.1998
• EAN: 9780804731355
• ISBN: 978-0-8047-3135-5
• No. of pages: 436
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 236 mm x 31 mm
• Weight: 726 g
• Series: Law, Society, and Culture in C; Law, Society, and Culture in China; Law, Society, and Culture in China; Law, Society, and Culture in C
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Business > General, dictionaries