몽골제국은 어떻게 법을 집행했는가? ― 訴訟과 約會의 재구성 ― (How did the Mongol empire enforce the law? — Reconstruction of litigation and the Yuehui 約會 —)

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초록

This paper explores the nature and variation of the yuehui 約會 as an actual place of litigation. The yuehui was a “joint court” in which legal matters were jointly judged, convicted, and settled. The word yuehui, along with the terms yuewen 約問 and huiwen 會問, combines the primary meaning of an “appointed meeting” with the broader meaning of a “joint trial [of a government and leaders of certain groups]” in central and local areas. This may in fact derive from the Mongolian word bolǰa’an as noted in the Secret History of the Mongols. Such a finding would call for more linguistically advanced discussions in the future.
The basic policy of the Mongol legal approach sought to deal with civil and criminal charges, whether as misdemeanors or high-profile cases, jointly through central and local officials at governmental offices. The Mongol yuehui (bolǰa’an?) not only spread to Korea’s Goryeo dynasty in the 1260s, but also developed as a “joint trial” in Inner Mongolian folklore under China’s Qing dynasty even in its later years. The yuanyi 圓議, or round council, was the process the Mongols could use to obtain procedural justice in accord with their own rights and interests, offering a mode of settlement and viewpoint that could be applied to the yuehui of a joint trial.
The yuehui usually sat in front of a Mongol tent on the grasslands or, in later years, in governmental courts. However, people also resorted to xuansheng miao 宣聖廟 or “shrines of holy saints,” shuyuan 書院 or local academies, and the personal residences of high officials as sites for conducting yuehui, for reasons of both convenience and personal interest.
The emergence of tuiguan 推官, or a provincial judge (ǰarqučis in Mongolian) in the provincial government of lu 路, or circuit, combined the work of judicial administration and joint interrogation. This allowed judges the ability to conduct both a case’s verdict and its signatures or sealing by officials. This transformation helped to realize the “imperial intention to relieve punishment” (xuxing zhi yi 恤刑之意) by accelerating the pace of criminal administration while maintaining the tradition of joint interrogation, verdict, and signature or sealing in case procedure.
Previous works claim that the Mongols respected the individual legal customs of suspects when adjudicating them. However, this principle was limited under the yuehui system. Despite the compromises the joint-trial system forced on administrators of justice, it often produced a powerful confirmation of Mongol power in executing administration and litigation.
While maintaining its fundamental meaning indicating an “appointed meeting,” the yuehui offered a universal legal culture that Mongols could implement across the Mongolian steppe and helped them to realize their concept of Mongol justice through the process of joint hearing or trial. At the same time, while yuehui as well as yuewen offered a traditional form of Mongolian litigate court, they also provided a means to coordinate procedural justice and legal culture among the khanates in the empire. The joint trials conducted among particular ethnic, religious, and other groups did not necessarily represent the privilege of enjoying their own legal culture but instead a rational transformation of the institution’s Mongol form of universal legal administration.

영어초록

This paper explores the nature and variation of the yuehui 約會 as an actual place of litigation. The yuehui was a “joint court” in which legal matters were jointly judged, convicted, and settled. The word yuehui, along with the terms yuewen 約問 and huiwen 會問, combines the primary meaning of an “appointed meeting” with the broader meaning of a “joint trial [of a government and leaders of certain groups]” in central and local areas. This may in fact derive from the Mongolian word bolǰa’an as noted in the Secret History of the Mongols. Such a finding would call for more linguistically advanced discussions in the future.
The basic policy of the Mongol legal approach sought to deal with civil and criminal charges, whether as misdemeanors or high-profile cases, jointly through central and local officials at governmental offices. The Mongol yuehui (bolǰa’an?) not only spread to Korea’s Goryeo dynasty in the 1260s, but also developed as a “joint trial” in Inner Mongolian folklore under China’s Qing dynasty even in its later years. The yuanyi 圓議, or round council, was the process the Mongols could use to obtain procedural justice in accord with their own rights and interests, offering a mode of settlement and viewpoint that could be applied to the yuehui of a joint trial.
The yuehui usually sat in front of a Mongol tent on the grasslands or, in later years, in governmental courts. However, people also resorted to xuansheng miao 宣聖廟 or “shrines of holy saints,” shuyuan 書院 or local academies, and the personal residences of high officials as sites for conducting yuehui, for reasons of both convenience and personal interest.
The emergence of tuiguan 推官, or a provincial judge (ǰarqučis in Mongolian) in the provincial government of lu 路, or circuit, combined the work of judicial administration and joint interrogation. This allowed judges the ability to conduct both a case’s verdict and its signatures or sealing by officials. This transformation helped to realize the “imperial intention to relieve punishment” (xuxing zhi yi 恤刑之意) by accelerating the pace of criminal administration while maintaining the tradition of joint interrogation, verdict, and signature or sealing in case procedure.
Previous works claim that the Mongols respected the individual legal customs of suspects when adjudicating them. However, this principle was limited under the yuehui system. Despite the compromises the joint-trial system forced on administrators of justice, it often produced a powerful confirmation of Mongol power in executing administration and litigation.
While maintaining its fundamental meaning indicating an “appointed meeting,” the yuehui offered a universal legal culture that Mongols could implement across the Mongolian steppe and helped them to realize their concept of Mongol justice through the process of joint hearing or trial. At the same time, while yuehui as well as yuewen offered a traditional form of Mongolian litigate court, they also provided a means to coordinate procedural justice and legal culture among the khanates in the empire. The joint trials conducted among particular ethnic, religious, and other groups did not necessarily represent the privilege of enjoying their own legal culture but instead a rational transformation of the institution’s Mongol form of universal legal administration.

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