550 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
who had no choice but to straighten out the problems in the ways of gov-
erning the people.
“We respectfully believe that Your Majesty deplored the disarray of the
land system of the previous dynasty and abolished the abuse of expanding
private lands. So you rectified land boundaries, destroying all the exist-
ing registers of public and private land. Then, you changed the law and
issued officials documents [to the landowners]. As a result, individuals were
restricted in the amount of land they could possess. Because of the new law,
the powerful families naturally abandoned plans to expand their lands, and
the litigations over lands among relatives also decreased. Since your reform
brought benefits to both officials and the people and made their lives equally
comfortable regardless of their rank and status, it really has become an out-
standing law, and its noble intention will be handed down for tens of thou-
sands of generations.
“However, one problem still persists, and that involves slaves. Conse-
quently, litigations and trickeries over the matters of slaves continue to pro-
liferate day after day, and even fathers, sons, and brothers fight one another,
cursing and swearing. Because they become estranged as a result, their
families fall apart and their clans become hopelessly divided. If family
members fight one another in this manner, one can imagine what will
happen in the cases of strangers [when the ownership of slaves is at stake].
Since everyone is determined to win a lawsuit, some fabricate facts, mixing
truth with falsehood, and that delays the legal process. Cunning and wicked
people often track down the secrets of their opponents, and avaricious
people forge the dates of the documents or repeat the same words until they
make investigators and judges utterly confused. Preventing litigation seems
difficult. Even if a judge deliberates and rules with fairness, people in most
cases will complain and protest, and after the judge is transferred, they file
another lawsuit, and therefore the lawsuits are endless. No abuses can be
more serious than this.
“Your Majesty hated such things and tried to solve the problems by
allowing the winners of lawsuits to take slaves, but the pending litigations
were simply too numerous to end the trouble. Since many people are still
engaged in legal battles, they cast a dark shadow over the reputation of your
benevolent rule. How can you eliminate all these abuses unless you change
the law?
“Your Majesty has now established a new dynasty in response to the
Mandate of Heaven as well as the wishes of the people and carefully pre-
pared an inheritance for your descendants, which will last ten thousand