「誣姦」の意味するもの : 明淸時代の判牘・官箴書の記述から

Abstract

This study considers the meaning of the word wujian 誣姦 on the basis of two written sources, judicial records 判牘 and manuals for governing 官箴書. Cases of the use of wujian in the Zizhi xinshu 資治新書 and the Zizhi xinshu erji 資治新書二集 can be roughly divided into two types: false accusations 誣告 of adultery and those who appealed against false accusations of adultery. The contents of many of the suits involved either adultery 姦通 or rape 強姦. It must be noted that they included both those called false accusations and also those that were deemed as having insufficient evidence. This fact is an important clue when considering the meaning of wujian. The word zhijian 指姦, which was used in manuals for governing and legal judgments, meant in addition to the false accusations of adultery, it indicated an accusation of adultery when the evidence was insufficient. As witnesses to sexual crimes tended to be few and evidence difficult to obtain, it was difficult to prove whether a sexual offence had actually occurred or it was an false accusation. Based on the legal judgments, I dealt with legal suits against wives and daughters-in-law for lewd contact, which are representative of false accusation of adultery, but among them statements revealing intimations of false accusation could be seen in the human relations and testimony were more frequent than any clear assertion of a "false accusation." Local officials directly faced with dubious claims were caught in a dilemma--the reality that if an false accuser were to be given the same penalty as that that would be meted out to person found guilty of the original charge, the punishment would be too severe, but if that was not the case, then the number of false accusations would increase. However, as "wujian" was related to the reputation of those involved and it was often the case that it occurred between persons in close relationships, handling the matter had to be done with great care. That being the case, one could not mete out severe punishment just because an accusation with insufficient evidence had been made, the general circumstances had to be carefully considered and proper punishment prescribed. These kinds of legal judgments were incorporated in popular "secret manuals for litigation masters" 訟師秘本. In short, through the secret manuals, the considerations of local officials as seen in the legal judgments was conveyed to the accusers' side and in some cases the number of people making "false accusations of adultery" (wujian) increased. It can be said that wujian 誣姦 was the product of the nature of contemporary lawsuits in which false accusations were in some sense unavoidable.