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The Last Bowl of Tea: A Portfolio of Seventeenth Century Chinese Law Cases (Signature Books)
The Last Bowl of Tea A Portfolio of Seventeenth Century Chinese Law Cases - Signature Books Author:Robert Stewart The Last Bowl of Tea is a collection of criminal cases brought before the magistrate, Judge Shih, an official of the 17th Century Chinese Imperial bureaucracy. Judge Shih was responsible for dispensing justice to the residents of his assigned district and the cases presented here are either based on actual legal cases drawn from Judge Shi... more »h's historical records or were adapted from well-documented cases of other Ch'ing dynasty magistrates. The role of magistrate in criminal cases during late Ch'ing China encompassed those of investigator, prosecutor, judge, and jury. The magistrate was led in any particular case by principles of justice and fairness laid down by tradition and culture informed by the rulings of elder magistrates. Slavish reliance on precedent was an alien concept considered anathema to rendering justice, thus the tales in this collection both exemplify the traditional Chinese approach to jurisprudence and illustrate the high degree of justice enjoyed. A magistrate's rulings were tempered by the requirement that conviction or punishment of an innocent demanded the magistrate, himself, be punished. Chinese literature spans many thousands of years and provides us with one of the world s richest collections of stories. Most of this literature particularly its detective tales is largely unknown in the West. The first popular introduction of these tales to Western readers was the writings of Robert van Gulik, with his famed Judge Dee novels, based on the historical Di Renjie, magistrate and statesman of the Tang court. In The Last Bowl of Tea author Robert Stewart explores the mystery and intrigue of the criminal underbelly of 17th Century China through the jurisprudence of Judge Shih. Readers should brace themselves, as Stewart s riveting tales of Judge Shih bring to life an imposing Imperial magistrate who combines Solomon-like wisdom and acumen with Holmes-like cunning and determination flavored by a unique insight into Chinese history and culture.« less