COMMUNITY COMPACT SYSTEM 723the compact was required to petition collectively to obtain a pardon for any per-
son who was about to be executed on false charges.^34
Haeju Community Compact, ca. 1576. Three years after he had told King Sanjo
that it would be premature to adopt the community compact system in the midst
of a famine, Yulgok composed and instituted his Haeju Community Compact
(Haeju hyangyak) in 1576 while in retirement in Haeju in Hwanghae Province.
The Haeju compact was much more detailed and formal than the Sawan com-
pact and contained an addendum that included a pledge for the members of the
compact and articles for a village granary (sach 'ang).
The Haeju compact was led by a general compact head (Toyakchong) and
two assistants (Puyakchang), one secretary (Chigwal) and one treasurer (Sahwa),
and the latter two positions rotated between meetings and once a year, respec-
tively. The first meeting of the compact association was to be held in the local
private academy (sowon), and the members would bow and burn incense before
the paper representations of former sages and teachers, and then genuflect before
the general compact head.3s
Although Yulgok was an outspoken advocate of the voluntary nature of the
community compact, he also designed his Haeju regulations to create a closed
association of ideological and moral purists by restricting membership to those
who could pass strict qualifying tests.^36 Those who wanted to join the compact
association first had to write out a formal application explaining their reasons
for joining, and the compact members had to accept the application, a process
that would take several months. Anyone who was not intelligent or well-
behaved would have to show he understood the articles of the compact and could
abide by its moral precepts for a probation period of one or two years. Atten-
dance was required at regular bimonthly meetings (up from four times a year
in the Sawan compact). Absence from a meeting required a written excuse in
advance, and any member who committed an egregious violation of the rules
or failed to rectify any error in behavior after three reprimands would be expelled
from the compact association.
The members had to pay dues in cloth and rice, and those dues would be used
to pay for the community's funeral expenses. A major ceremony had to be con-
ducted to congratulate any member who underwent his capping ceremony, passed
the munkwa government examination or obtained the lesser literary or classics
licentiate degrees (chinsa, sa eng won ), received an appointment to office, or was
promoted in official rank. Contributions had to be made for food for the slaves
who worked at funerals. If any rice were left over at the end of the year, the trea-
surer could make loans at 20 percent to the members according to the regula-
tions set up for the village granary (sach lmg), sell it to buy more cloth, or cease
further collections of dues from the members. Cloth would not be loaned but
could be used to pay expenses. If a house burned down the community mem-
bers had to furnish the victim with wood and thatch, furnish one slave, and pay
for three days' worth of food while he worked on the house.3^7
Yulgok also provided a separate text for the pledges of the Haeju Community