Chapter 32: Playing with Technicalities
Wrongful sale of one’s wife?
Xu Zhiqian, who had been investigating the matter all along, was stunned when she heard this accusation.
If she was shocked, the others were even more so.
A commotion erupted outside the door.
This was turning into a complete mess!
It took Lu Gongzhu quite some time to regain his composure. This was far beyond what he had prepared for last night. He cleared his throat a few times and called for silence. Once the noise at the door subsided, he asked, “What did you just say? He committed the crime of wrongfully selling his wife?”
Zhang Fei nodded and said, “Yes, Li Si committed the crime wrongfully selling his wife. According to the Song Code of Punishments, he should be sentenced to two years of hard labor and receive fifty beatings. However, I earnestly request that Your Honor be lenient, considering that Li Si has voluntarily confessed to his crime. I suggest that he be exempted from the beatings and his labor sentence reduced by one year.”
“Wait a moment! Just wait a moment!” Lu Gongzhu waved his hand and continued, “You’ve completely confused me. According to Li Si’s testimony, both he and his wife agreed to use the wife to repay the debt. Where does the accusation of wrongfully selling the wife’ come from?”
Although the Song Dynasty was a patriarchal society, there were certain laws that protected women, such as the charge of wrongfully selling one’s wife. While wives could be sold, it had to be done with both spouse’s consent and with proper procedures.
Of course, women, as a vulnerable group, often had no choice in many situations. But that was the law in the courtroom.
Zhang Fei said, “According to our dynasty’s marriage and family law, the determination of whether two people are legally married is based on the acceptance of the bride price. I wonder this statement holds true?”
The bride price, or the payment of a betrothal gift, was the key factor in establishing a legal marital relationship. It was not solely dependent on the wedding ceremony.
This was why, in the case of Ayun, they initially charged her with intentional murder of her husband, a crime that fell under the Ten Abominations. In that case, the Wei family had already provided land as a bride price, and both parties had agreed. It was only later that it was overturned due to Xu Zun’s argument that the mourning period prevented the marriage from being legally effective.
Lu Gongzhu nodded and said, “You’re right; that’s how the law is stipulated.”
Zhang Fei continued, “Based on Li Si’s situation, the discharge of the principal of the debt constitutes the bride price. When this contract comes into effect, it signifies the completion of the acceptance of the bride price. Therefore, Lady Zeng becomes Chen Yuteng’s wife.”
Lu Gongzhu nodded again, saying, “You’re correct.”
Zhang Fei added, “However, Li Si hastily married Lady Zeng off to Chen Yuteng before waiting for Chen Yuteng’s bride price. This, of course, constitutes the crime of wrongfully selling one’s wife.”
Lu Gongzhu was being led astray by Zhang Fei. He initially nodded but quickly said, “No, that’s not right! Chen Yuteng married Lady Zeng after signing the second contract, so there’s nothing wrong with it.”
Zhang Fei smiled and said, “Signing a contract doesn’t mean that it takes immediate effect. Contracts have a particular feature: they have an effective date that is not necessarily the date of signing. Your Honor, compare the two contracts.”
Lu Gongzhu immediately picked up the two contracts, the first one being the loan agreement and the other for using the wife to repay the loan, and began comparing them.
Zhang Fei continued, “The first contract stipulates the repayment date to be the 15th of June, while the second contract was signed on the 3rd of June. There’s a full twelve-day gap between the two dates. But Chen Yuteng brought Lady Zeng home on the 3rd of June, the day the second contract was signed.”
After a careful comparison, Lu Gongzhu shook his head and said, “You’re mistaken. Although it was several days early, the contract clearly states, ‘I, on this day, consent to my wife being used as payment for the principal amount’. So the contract would naturally takes effect on the that.”
Zhang Fei shook his head and smiled, “No, no! That statement only means that Li Si agreed to the transaction on that date, but it doesn’t establish the effective date of the contract. For example, if today, I, Zhang San, express my willingness to marry Lady Xu, can we say that I’ve already taken her as my wife today? Of course not. Neither does the contract specify immediate effectiveness.”
Hearing the name Lady Xu, Xu Zhiqian rolled her eyes and muttered in frustration, “This scheming guy is infuriating!”
Lu Gongzhu nodded slightly and asked, “So when do you think the contract takes effect?”
Zhang Fei replied, “Since this is a contract involving borrowing and lending, its effective date is not determined by the general language of the contract. The effective date of the contract is determined by the mutual exchange of benefits under the contract.”
Lu Gongzhu said, “The benefit Chen Yuteng provides is the discharge of the principal amount. And he has never demanded the principal from Li Si.”
Zhang Fei clarified, “The key is not the principal but the interest. Your Honor, please review the court record from Xiangfu County. The interest that Chen Yuteng pursues is calculated up till June 15th. In other words, the first contract was valid until June 15th.”
Lu Gongzhu shook his head and said, “Even with a twelve-day difference, the interest calculation seems correct.”
Regarding Li Si’s contract, the interest was calculated on a monthly basis since it had a one-year term. On this basis, part of a month was counted as a full month. Lu Gongzhu had reviewed this specific point the previous night, and the slight difference in days wasn’t enough to overturn Xiangfu County’s judgment.
“There’s no issue with the calculation of interest.”
Zhang Fei nodded with a smile, then changed the subject suddenly. “May I ask, Your Honor, in such a situation, how would you determine that no interest accrued on the principal during the following twelve days?”
Lu Gongzhu pondered for a moment and said, “Indeed, that is difficult to determine because whether you calculate from June 3rd or June 15th, the interest remains the same. How can you tell which dates are taken into account in calculating the interest?”
Zhang Fei immediately responded, “I can certainly tell.”
“Oh?” Lu Gongzhu asked, “How?”
With a smile, Zhang Fei said, “The contract is written that way! Since Chen Yuteng pursued interest after the second contract, we can infer that the second contract didn’t immediately terminate or supersede the first contract. The contracts do not replace each other; instead, they coexist or supplement each other.”
Although anything less than a full month counts as a full month, we must understand one crucial point: interest accrues every day, not just on the first day of each month. Regarding this matter, I have enough evidence to show this. In many loan contracts, it is the choice of the creditor to terminate early. In such cases, the interest is calculated up till that day, and it would not count as a full month. Therefore, interest accrues daily,” Zhang Fei explained.
Lu Gongzhu nodded slightly.
This wasn’t difficult to grasp. Counting part of a month as a full month was to protect the creditor’s interests, but the generation of interest was calculated on a daily basis.
Zhang Fei continued, “Interest accrues on a daily basis, and the second contract didn’t terminate the first loan contract. Interest can only be generated from the principal, so when Chen Yuteng claimed interest up till June 15th, naturally there was principal still owing up till June 15th. Only on June 15th was the principal amount discharged and regarded as fully repaid.”
Lu Gongzhu nodded slightly and said, “I see. Yes, the principal amount was fully repaid only on June 15th.”
Since the second contract was essentially a trap, Chen Yuteng did not mentioned anything about interest. Neither did it supersede the first contract, since Chen Yuteng intended all along to pursue interest on the first contract.
Zhang Fei continued, “Given that the discharge of the principal was the bride price, the date this bride price was paid was June 15th. However, Li Si sent his wife off to Chen Yuteng on June 3rd, which unquestionably falls under wrongful sale of one’s wife.”
The onlookers outside the door, including Xu Zhiqian, were all utterly perplexed.
At this point, they understood the situation quite well, but it only left them even more confused. If things continued this way, Li Si’s crime of wrongfully selling his wife would be firmly established.
The law on wrongfully selling one’s wife was clear: the sale of a wife must occur with both parties’ voluntary consent and all the proper requirements had to be met; otherwise, it would be considered a wrongful sale.
Clearly, Li Si had sold his wife to Chen Yuteng without completing the entire procedure properly.
Lu Gongzhu carefully reviewed the information again and thoughtfully said, “Regarding these two contracts, I must reconsider.”
Zhang Fei interrupted Lu Gongzhu, saying, “Your Honor, you confirmed multiple times earlier that these two contracts had no issues. Do you now believe there’s a problem with them?”
“I…”
Lu Gongzhu suddenly realized that the previous debate was a trap, designed to make him confirm the validity of the contract. However, he was also very puzzled. Zhang Fei had been hired by Li Si, so why was he now advocating for Li Si’s imprisonment? What was really going on here?
But Lu Gongzhu was an experienced official, and he knew that there must be more to the story. He suddenly turned to Li Si and asked, “Li Si, do you plead guilty?”
Li Si hurriedly said, “I plead guilty, Your Honor.”
Lu Gongzhu immediately ordered, “Guards, take Li Si into custody!”
Two bailiffs quickly approached and escorted Li Si away.
A murmur of discussion erupted at the door.
Many scholars began to criticize Zhang Fei.
Pen-in-caps did not have a good reputation to begin with, and the situation made it appear that Zhang Fei had been bought off by Chen Yuteng. It was all a plot!
It was truly disheartening!
Sympathy for Li Si surged among the onlookers.
Many people began to loudly protest and stand up for Li Si.
A miscarriage of justice!
But Lu Gongzhu knew that things weren’t as simple as they seemed. When he questioned Li Si earlier, he was testing him. Seeing Li Si readily plead guilty, it was evident that this was part of their plan.
So he decisively silenced the commotion at the door.
As expected, once the noise subsided, Zhang Fei immediately took out two complaint documents and said, “I, on behalf of Li Si, accuse his wife, Lady Zeng, of the crime of desertion, and Chen Yuteng of the crime of wife abduction.”
Xu Zhiqian’s eyes lit up, and she exclaimed, “Brilliant! This is fighting fire with fire.”
Another commotion erupted at the door.
Compared to the nuances of the effective dates of contract, the onlookers understood better what “wrongfully selling one’s wife,” “desertion of one’s husband,” and “wife abduction” meant.
Wife abduction was straightforward; it meant forcibly taking someone else’s wife.
As for desertion, it referred to a wife leaving her original husband to be with another man.
Obviously, these three charges were contradictory.
At most, one could be charged with two out of the three; it was impossible for all three to coexist.
Either the wife conspired with another man for her to go to him, or the husband conspired with another man for the wife to go to him; it couldn’t be that all three were guilty simultaneously.
This was an inherent contradiction!
Lu Gongzhu hadn’t even read the complaint documents yet and said, “Since Li Si committed the crime of wrongfully selling his wife, how can his wife be guilty of desertion?”
If Li Si wrongfully sold his wife, then his wife should be the victim, not the accused!
Zhang Fei explained, “Lady Zeng voluntarily committed herself to another man before the bride price was paid, which is clearly the crime of desertion. By the same logic, Chen Yuteng has certainly committed the crime of wife abduction.”
Lu Gongzhu, with his extensive experience in presiding over numerous cases, was now feeling overwhelmed by Zhang Fei’s arguments.
Logically speaking, the crimes of wrongfully selling one’s wife and desertion couldn’t coexist, but the law didn’t explicitly state this. The law simply explained what constituted wrongfully selling one’s wife and what constituted desertion.
When looked at separately, Lady Zeng had indeed committed the crime of desertion because she had voluntarily left her husband and married another man without full payment of the bride price. At that time, Li Si didn’t push her away but was instead tearful and reluctant.
Chen Yuteng was similar; he married someone else’s wife without paying the bride price. This clearly fell under the crime of wife abduction. Even though there was no resistance from Li Si, it didn’t mean it was legal.
After some contemplation, Lu Gongzhu finally untangled the situation. Ultimately, it revolved around the date on which the principal was discharged. All parties believed they had completed the necessary legal procedures because they thought the principal or debt was discharged. However, Chen Yuteng’s subsequent pursuit of interest had rendered everything illegal because this meant that the principal was only repaid on June 15th, while their acts took place on June 3rd. So none of the three parties could escape culpability.
At this moment, both Lu Gongzhu and Xu Zhiqian understood why Zhang Fei had initially advised Li Si to complain to the Xiangfu County government and why he had claimed that the contract was illegal. The goal was to obtain official confirmation that the contract was perfectly legal. As long as the contract was deemed legal, the entire transaction would become illegal.
Of course, if all three parties had accepted the outcome, there would be no problem and the authorities wouldn’t have pursued any charges. The key issue now was that Li Si did not accept the outcome, and was willing to admit that he had acted unlawfully. If he were found guilty, then the other two parties would naturally be considered guilty as well.
However, making such a judgment seemed somewhat unreasonable. A difference of twelve days, and now all three were to be sentenced to severe punishment. Moreover, Li Si and Lady Zeng were actually victims. This didn’t seem right.
If they were convicted, they would not only face imprisonment but also corporal punishment.
The penalties were quite severe to uphold Confucian propriety.
Lu Gongzhu spoke very cautiously, “Because this case also involves Chen Yuteng and Lady Zeng, I need to investigate further before making a judgment. Court is adjourned!”