694 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
“1. A high- or low- ranking member of gentry (yangban) who has availed
himself of slaves solely on the basis of documents drafted locally should be
reported to his local government so that the slaves in his possession can be
returned to their rightful owners.
“1. Childless couples should be allowed to have their slaves during their
lifetime, even if they have no legal documents, and when they die, their
slaves should be given to the rightful heir of their families. If the hus -
band draws up a legal document for bequeathing the slaves to his wife, her
inheritance will be valid. However, when a wife bequeaths slaves to her
husband, the legal document needs to be backed up by the statements and
signatures of witnesses, because her stamp or signature alone is not suffi-
cient for verifying the authenticity of the document. If the wife fails to
remain faithful to her husband, her slaves should be restored to the right-
ful heir of her husband’s family even if she has a legal document for her
inheritance.
“1. Since the adjudication of the slave lawsuits is supposed to be com-
pleted within the year set by law, everyone—including even inspectors and
censors and officials of the Board of Punishments, as well as all other local
officials serving in the provinces—must designate their sons or nephews or
rightful heirs among their family members by placing their own signatures
in their petitions and letting these conduct the lawsuits on their behalf. A
spouse should be allowed to submit a petition on behalf of her husband only
when a litigant has no sons and relatives. If there is an official in the
Directorate who is related by blood to the litigants, the litigation should be
transferred to a different division [in the same Directorate] to ensure fair
legal proceedings. If there is a rightful heir among the litigants who has a
relative in the department in charge of slave lawsuits, his case should be
transferred to another department where there are no relatives related by
blood to the rightful heir and other litigants, and the department for the trial
should be chosen among the Directorate for Adjudication of Slave Lawsuits,
the Office of the Inspector-General, and the Board of Punishments.
“1. Unless a deadline is set for accepting lawsuits, cunning people may
have a chance to intervene and play tricks to complicate the litigation.
Lawsuits should be accepted only once every season for five days consecu-
tively, and after the fourth month of the upcoming Muin year (1398), they
should not be accepted at all.
“1. Lawsuits that concern officials who are below the rank of grand
master for excellent goodness [rank 2b], except those in the Office of the