The Story of the Court

Author: Huang Minghe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-02-01
Features: The court is like a theater. For 5,000 years, countless tragedies and comedies of life have been performed here, narrating many bizarre stories. This book revolves around the court and the judicial system. The author discusses both ancient and modern, as well as Chinese and Western, thoroughly organizing the knowledge behind the system and meticulously explaining the cultural factors that influence its form. With sharp writing, a blend of solemnity and wit, it captivates the reader. – Hu Weifang, Professor at the Law School of Peking University
This book is highly engaging. It presents many famous cases in legal history as if telling stories, and even more commendably, it is accompanied by numerous illustrations, many of which I have never seen before. It transforms our understanding of legal history and thought from abstract to concrete, bringing the past to life, offering a fresh perspective. – Qu Xinjiu, Dean of the School of Criminal Justice at China University of Political Science and Law
Some have compared the court to a theater, and this is a brilliant metaphor. In fact, the court has always been a stage where the tragedies and comedies of life are performed, narrating many bizarre stories. Each case is a story, with no script, no pre-written dialogue, no rehearsals, and even the ending is uncertain. On this stage, judges and juries, plaintiffs and defendants, prosecutors and defenders, and summoned witnesses all play different roles, narrating or listening to stories that have already happened, while also enacting stories of truth and justice in the making. The author of this book is like an observer standing behind the curtain, explaining in detail the backgrounds, origins, and attire of the various characters on stage, as well as the stage settings, props, procedures, and rules of the performance, the backstage secrets and unspoken rules. Thus, Socrates' trial in ancient Greece, the cruel inquisitors of the Middle Ages, the eerie and mysterious magistrates in ancient Chinese courts, the farmer's lawsuit against Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany, the Supreme Court Justices of the United States, the love-hate American lawyers, and the century-long Simpson trial—all come to life in the author's hands, ready to take the stage once again. The curtain has been raised, and the performance is about to begin.
This book includes two parts: "The Court" and "The Trial." With court culture as its theme and the spirit of humanism as its guiding principle, it spans the breadth of history and geography, telling stories of the court.