A Question of Intent: Homicide Law and Criminal Justice in Qing and Republican China

Jennifer M. Neighbors Uses Legal Cases From The Local, Provincial And Central Levels To Explore Both The Complexity With Which Qing Law Addressed Abstract Concepts And The Process Of Adoption, Adaptation, And Resistance As Late Imperial Law Gave Way To Criminal Law Of The Republican Period. This Study Reveals A Chinese Justice System, Both Before And After 1911, That Defies Assignment To Binary Categories Of Modern And Pre-modern Law That Have Influenced Much Of Past Scholarship. Introduction -- From Guoshi Killing To Killing At Play : The Low End Of The Intent Continuum -- The Marriage Of Concept And Circumstance : Killing In An Affray And The Intent To Harm -- Murder, Mercy, And Mens Rea : Intentional Homicide In The Qing Dynasty -- Limited Options : Intentional Homicide In Republican China -- Continuities In China : The Recreation Of Qing Rulings In Republican Courts -- Damages : Changing Notions Of Reparations And Harm In Homicide And Injury Law -- Conclusion. By Jennifer M. Neighbors. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 243-255) And Index.