宋代佃戸の身分問題

Abstract

This article is an investigation of several problems connected with the legal and social status of tenants during the Sung dynasty. I. The legal position of landlords, with respect to tenants, became increasingly strong under the Northern and Southern Sung and the Yuan, until under the li-chia 里甲 system of the Ming the landlords acquired judicial rights with respect to their tenants. On the other hand, the legal status of tenants under the Northern Sung had been lower than that of other citizens. But, contrary to the accepted view, it cannot be said that this status declined still further during the Southern Sung ； rather, until the Yuan at least, their status remained that of ordinary citizens. II. The distinction of status between landlord and tenant during the Sung is expressed by two phrases : chu-t'ien chih fen 主佃之分, or "landlord-tenant, " and chu-p'u chih fen 主僕之分 or "master-servant." The landlord-tenant relationship respresents a contractual relationship for the payment of rent, as in the Ming and Ch'ing periods. Thus although an edict of 1372 says that this relationship is one between elder and younger 長幼之序 (i.e. between superior and inferior), this is merely a loose phrase to express special circumstances. However, the master-servant relationship was of a completely different kind ； this was the class known in the Sung as t'ien-p'u 佃僕 or tk-k'e 地客 and the precursors of the t'ien-p'u and chuang-p'u 庄僕 of the Ming and Ch'ing. III. With the exception of Szechwan, the tenants of the Sung period could, when the harvest was completed, legally change their place of residence. Thus, the tenants were not legally bound to the land. In fact, however, many tenants were either bound by debt or had a relationship of the indentured type ； unless these obligations were discharged, they could not change their place of residence.