徴税・徴租と牧民官 : 近代初期の江南を例とした場合

Abstract

The district magistiate (chih-hsien 知縣) was a so-called "magistrate to herd the people" (mu-min-kuan 牧民官), an official "in charge of the seal" (cheng-yin-kuan 正印官)of the rank 7A 正七品, a title which was created at the very end of the period of absolute control by the Ch'ing 清. In this article the local government by the magistrates in Chiang-nan 江南 during the early modern period is investigated. Chiang-nan was a region where the landlord system--the landlord tenant-relationship--was clearly developed. The so-called "wan-tien k'ang-tsu 頑佃抗租"phenomenon, i.e. the "stubborn tenants who refused to pay the rent" became more and more prevalent. The landlords attempted to collect rents and arrears employing the power of the magistrates. The view was taken that magistrates would protect the interests of the landlords in this way, since both in reality and principle, the collection of land tax was dependent on the payment of rent. This two-tier system was described in the following way : " the tax comes from rent, and the rent comes from the tenant." Studies on this area have tended to stress this aspect--the way in which the magistrates protected the landlords' interests, while neglecting to discuss their responses to the tenants' demands. In fact, however, the tenants made demands on the magistrate for controls on the levels of rent set by landlords. It is clear that in cases where magistrates responded to these demands, whether passively or formally, the tenants would often use this as a pretext for resisting the landlords. The prevailing view of the role of the magistrates--as the public authority, " accepting the people as his sons, and abhorring evil as his enemy", meant that they could not put the tenants' problems aside. This article examines some of the functions of these magistrates, especially in the area of tax and rent collection, in a preliminary attempt to confirm the above points.