Book I 123“1. The purpose of establishing the household cloth tax (hop’o) was to
reduce miscellaneous taxes. However, at the end of the Koryŏ dynasty, the
household cloth tax was levied without eliminating miscellaneous taxes,
and the people suffered greatly. Henceforth, there will be no household tax.
The salt produced in all provinces shall be sold to the people by the salt
commissioner, under the supervision of the surveillance commissioner, and
the profits made from it shall be used to replenish the state treasury.
“1. The state-run military farms (tunjŏn) cause damage to the people.
They shall be all abolished, except the one in Ŭmjuk.^49
“1. At the end of the former dynasty [Koryŏ], the criminal code was not
applied consistently. The Board of Punishments, the Capital Constabulary
(Sun’gunbu),^50 and the Street Jailhouse (Kaguso) executed criminal punish-
ment in their own ways, so that their judgments often turned out to be inap-
propriate. From this time forward, the Board of Punishments shall take
charge of implementing the criminal code and assume responsibility for
court hearings and interrogations, and the Palace Guards’ duties shall be
limited to patrolling, arresting, and suppressing disturbances. Once a judg-
ment is handed down by the Board of Punishments, even those who com-
mitted minor offenses for which the penalty is only a lashing are deprived
of their appointment and dismissed from office, causing even their descen-
dants to suffer shame and disgrace. However, this is far from the intention
of the sage kings of antiquity who made the laws. Henceforth, the officials
in charge of criminal laws, both in the capital and in local districts, shall
make their judgments on all public and private crimes only according to
The Great Ming Code (Da Minglü).^51 They can deprive the offenders of
their official appointment only when they can find the corresponding stat-
utes in the penal code, and likewise, they can confiscate only the properties
- A small district in Kyŏnggi Province.
- Originally established as a government agency in charge of public order and security
similar to police forces in the capital city during late Koryŏ, it gradually expanded its opera-
tion and turned into the courts handling litigation on lands and slaves. It also became part of
the Elite Palace Guard (Kŭmgun), whose mission was to guard the royal palace. As a result, it
was also used for political purposes during the Mongol occupation and the internal power
struggles among Koryŏ officials, including Ch’oe Yŏng and Yi Sŏnggye. Then it eventually
became the “Office for the Deliberation of Forbidden Affairs” (ŭigŭmbu), the state tribunal,
early in the Chosŏn dynasty. - The code of law of Ming China compiled by Liu Weiqian on the orders of Emperor
Taizu (Zhu Yaunzhang). The text continued to be revised until it was finally completed in - The Great Ming Code referred to here is the version published in 1389.