Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions. Yu Hyongwon and the Late Choson Dynasty - James B. Palais

REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH 343

subjects already received salaries, it would be sufficient simply to give them addi-

tional land grants in decreasing amounts (scaled according to blood relation-

ship or distance from reigning kings or merit subject ancestors), exempt them

from the land tax, and allow their retainers (pangdang) to perform military ser-

vice in their stead. The land grants could be inherited by their descendants in

decreasing amounts until the time that this inherited tax-exempt land might be

less than the heir was entitled to by virtue of his own rank and position. At that

time the heir would receive an additional (taxable) land grant according to Yu's

regular rules of land grants to sadaebu to bring his allotment up to the appro-

priate size. Notice, however, that the tax and service obligations associated with

this plan violated Yu's rules (see table 4).

TABLE 4

Yu's PLAN VERSUS LAND GRANTS ONLY

Recipient

Yu's plan:

Sadaebu

Prince, or merit subject

Adversary's plan:

All the above

Type of Grant Land Tax Military Service

land

prebend

land (only)

yes

no

no

no

yes (by cultivator)

yes (by retainers)

Yu objected to this plan because it violated his sense of equity: "Military ser-
vice is assessed on the basis of the amount of land, whereas the land tax is assessed
on the basis of the quality of the land. If in the case of princes and merit sub-
jects you hold the taxes constant, there will be inequalities in the exemptions
from military service; if you hold military service constant, there will be
inequalities in the exemptions from the land tax."97
Yu explained this by arguing that if his adversary's plan were adopted, heirs
of princes and merit subjects in succeeding generations would receive decreas-
ing amounts oftax-exempt princely land (because of the division of inheritance)
while they received increasing amounts of taxable land to match their actual
rank, a system that would be too cumbersome to administer effectivelyy8
Yu's adversary then suggested that instead ofland grants, the princes and merit
subjects might simply be given prebends (sase) or tax collection rights over peo-
ple's land (minjon), and that the cultivators be required to provide military ser-
vice in accordance with (Yu's) regulations. The adversary also suggested that
these prebends should be retained by the eldest legitimate son, and not divided
up among all the other sons (of princes, princesses, or merit subjects) until the
fifth generation in the case of descendants of royalty, when their royal status
ended. At that time tax collection rights (prebends) would be taken back by the
state, and afterwards each royal prince would only receive regular (taxable) land
grants (sujon).
Yu remarked that this plan seemed to be all right because it was close to the