692 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
that had been made by the Directorate every year since the Imsin year (1392)
and already approved by the king:
“The Privy Council reviewed and discussed the proposal [concerning
slave lawsuits] by the Criminal Administration Bureau of the Board of
Punishments and submitted a final version as follows: ‘We decided to create
a separate directorate to deal with the matters concerning public and private
slaves, and to issue new slave documents while destroying old ones. As for
the slaves currently involved in litigation that was filed after the Sinch’uk
year (1361), we made sure that the official in charge of slave affairs would
adjudicate the lawsuits within two years starting from the Pyŏngja year
(1396). He will also issue new documents to the slave owners while
destroying old ones, to permanently prevent lawsuits in the days ahead.’
Hence, we submit a list of proposals to be implemented, as follows:
“1. One who files a lawsuit to recover the status of commoner (yangin)
should be granted the status that he seeks even if he has no records to prove
himself as long as his slave records are ambiguous and he did not serve as a
slave from the beginning. On the other hand, one who has served as a slave
for generations should be ruled as a slave unless he is able to present a
record to prove his status of good person.
“1. As for slaves involved in lawsuits, they should be divided and given to
legitimate heirs when the records of some heirs are problematic. When the
family branch of heirs is dubious, the slaves should be returned to the gov-
ernment.
“1. As for slaves involved in lawsuits, heirs who failed to participate
in the litigation should be prohibited from filing lawsuits after the final
ruling is made, even if they are members of the same family and right-
ful heirs.
“1. When a child is adopted before the age of three by a childless person
to carry on the family line or an abandoned child is raised by him, the child
is entitled to become rightful heir. Even if he or she has no written parental
will for inheritance, he or she should be fully provided with slaves. Even if
a person was adopted for service, he should be provided with slaves if he
can present his parents’ written will on slave inheritance. If he cannot pro-
duce such a record, he shall be provided with only half of the slaves, and the
remainder should be given to the one who carries the family line or the
relatives who rendered service to the bequeather, according to the degree of
his or her service.