Abstract

Examined in this article is a text entitled Sasong‒rok(詞訟錄, Record of Lawsuits), which was a compilation of “Minjang” lawsuit documents(“Minjang Chibu‒chaek, 民狀置簿冊”) that were submitted to the Chungcheong‒do province’s Yeon’gi‒hyeon office in 1858. The contents of these Minjang documents, and how those lawsuits were processed and concluded, are also examined in this article. Sasong‒rok is currently in custody of the National Library of Korea, and the submitted Minjang documents from all twelve months of that year remain today, making this text a particularly important and valuable source of information. Yeon’gi‒hyeon was a region which witnessed a relatively lower submission rate of Minjang lawsuit documents, compared to the other regions. One thing that should be noted is that in this area the submission of Minjang documents was concentrated in the winter, which was a hiatus for agricultural production. Not only the Yangban figures, commoners and lowborns, but also members of the local office such as clergymen(官屬) and Myeon/Ri‒im(面里任) clerks submitted Minjang documents. Even females, jailed prisoners and residents of other areas were able to submit them as well. Examination of the Minjang documents reveal that issues which were deemed most important by the people of Yeon’gi were tax problems and mutual conflicts[相鬪]. They wanted illegal or abusive taxation to be corrected, and lawsuits involving conflicts were often related to feuds over mountains used as burial grounds for certain houses(山訟). Orders(題辭) issued by the Hyeon’gam prefects show us that most of the appeals or petitions submitted from the civilians were ‘not granted.’ Most of the Minjang documents were processed by the Hyeon’gam figures, and the prefects’ treatment of them were in most cases more like ‘getting rid of it.’With the examination of this Sasong‒rok, we can see what kind of issues the people of Yeon’gi had, what kind of conflicts they had with each other, and what were the characteristics of the local legal system.