Northern Song Dynasty Justice

Chapter 7
This is not only Zhang Fei's first lawsuit in the Northern Song Dynasty, but also the first lawsuit in his life.

He doesn't have much experience in court, and he also does some errands and financial calculations in his internship position.

But this gives him an advantage.

Because he has not yet formed a fixed thinking of procedural justice.

And when he was studying the ancient law, he knew that the ancient legal thought pursued the justice of the result, not the justice of the procedure.

What results in justice?
Simply put, good is rewarded with good, and evil is rewarded with evil.

Therefore, in the classroom, he spent more space portraying Fang Datian as a villain, while on Wei Ada's side, he played the sympathy card.

Instead of looking for loopholes in the judicial process.

Judging from the reaction of the onlookers, it is clear that he was very successful.

Later generations of judges can sentence a result that everyone reviled.

But today's officials, especially those with integrity, dare not make such a judgment.

Because they are more pursuing the result of justice.

Of course, everything must be based on laws and regulations, but the focus of litigation is different.

"Thank you, Brother Zhang, thank you, Brother Zhang!"

"Brother Zhang's great kindness to our brothers, we brothers must remember in our hearts, if Brother Zhang needs help in the future, we will never say anything."

.

When they got out of the government office, the Wei family brothers thanked Zhang Fei in tears for seeking justice for them.

But Zhang Fei asked seriously: "Is this really true?"

The Wei brothers were taken aback for a moment, then Wei Aer suddenly patted his chest and said: "Brother Zhang, just give orders."

Zhang Fei hesitated a little, and said: "Actually, it's not a big deal, but I need you two to be my witnesses for one more time. I still have a lawsuit to fight."

Wei Ah said: "What lawsuit?"

"It's about the lawsuit about Ayun."

Zhang Fei said: "I told you that Ah Yun has saved my life, and I must repay her."

Wei Aer couldn't help looking at his elder brother, which made him a little tangled, after all, that woman is also an enemy!

Wei Ada was stunned for a while, nodded silently, and agreed.

After the debate just now, he didn't really hate Ah Yun very much.

At this moment, that Liu Hai suddenly came over and said, "Zhang San, we need you from Zhizhou."

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "What a coincidence, I also have something to discuss with Zhizhou."

He then said to the Wei brothers: "Go back to the hotel first, and we will talk about it in detail when I come back."

After saying that, he and Liu Hai returned to the official office.

.

"Xiaomin Zhangsan, I have met Zhizhou."

"Zhang San, do you know why I came to you this time?"

Xu Zun asked expressionlessly.

Zhang Fei pondered for a while, then glanced at Xu Zun, shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Xu Zun hummed: "Did you forget that you still owe me the money?"

Debt collection?Wow. You are too stingy!Zhang Fei was not as high-spirited as before, and said awkwardly: "Yes, Xiaomin still owes Zhizhou two pennies, but... But Xiaomin has no money now, and I hope Zhizhou will relax for a few days."

"No money."

Xu Zun looked at Zhang Fei and said, "You won fifty acres of land for the Wei brothers, didn't you ask for a reward?"

Zhang Fei blinked: "What? Can you still get paid for doing good deeds?"

Xu Yuanqi who was on the side didn't stop, and said: "You are still pretending to be stupid here, the account you just calculated really impressed me, I have been handling cases for many years, and I have never seen such a detailed account." Accounts, don't you know to ask for payment?"

Zhang Fei said: "Xiaomin is only focused on seeking reasonable compensation for the Wei brothers, and did not ask them for any compensation."

Xu Zun asked, "Really?"

Zhang Fei said: "How dare Xiaomin lie to Zhizhou, and Xiaomin also dare not rely on Zhizhou's account. If you have money, how dare you not pay it back."

After examining him for a while, Xu Zun nodded and said, "Okay! Then I will give you a few more days."

"Thank you Zhizhou."

Zhang Fei cupped his hands and saluted, and suddenly said: "It just so happens that Xiaomin has a paper to submit to Zhizhou."

As soon as these words came out, Xu Yuan, Liu Hai and the others were immediately dumbfounded.

Your home is a wholesale form of paper, right?

Only Xu Zun was not surprised, but he frowned and pretended to be dissatisfied: "You have sued endlessly!"

Zhang Fei explained: "It's not a new case, but about the murder of Ah Yun."

Xu Zun let out a sigh: "Again, is it exempt from the crime?"

Zhang Fei hurriedly shook his head and said: "No, it's just based on Fang Datian's wounding case, Xiaomin thinks that there is enough reason to re-examine Ayun's motives, and whether she really has the intention of harming others, if she has no intention of harming others, No intention of murder."

Xu Zun was secretly happy.

Xu Yuan also understood, and immediately refuted: "Even if Ah Yun was forced to do it, her crime of murder is indisputable."

Zhang Fei immediately said: "But Xiaomin thinks that Ah Yun didn't actually intend to murder. She went to hurt Wei Ada out of good intentions, but she used the wrong method, and there are witnesses in this case."

"A new witness?" Xu Yuan asked, "What witness?"

There are so few people involved in this case, how could there be new witnesses.

Zhang Fei replied: "It is Wei Ada, the victim of this case."

"Wei Ada?" Xu Yuan was startled, "You said Wei Ada wanted to testify for Ayun?"

"Yes."

Xu Yuan and Xu Zun looked at each other.

If Wei Ada is going to testify for Ayun, then he is definitely a new witness.

But this is a bit outrageous!
Zhang Fei said: "Since General Wei A will provide new testimony, Xiaomin thinks that Ah Yun can only be convicted of excessive self-defense at best."

"Too defensive?"

Xu Yuan thinks that Zhang San is already crazy, and the above-mentioned exemption from the crime is still reasonable, but he is taking advantage of the loopholes in the law, but he estimates that it is impossible for Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment to agree. .

Now he has to make an overdefense defense.

how can that be.

So defensive that he ran to someone else's house to kill someone?
It's just unreasonable.

Facing Xu Yuan's puzzlement, Zhang Fei said seriously: "Yes, Ah Yun is absolutely innocent, she is also one of the victims, the government should pay her justice."

Xu Zun was overjoyed in his heart, but said: "You first present the pleadings."

"Yes."

Didn't Xu Yuan know what Xu Zun was thinking? He even thought that the two had colluded for a long time, but he didn't approve of Xu Zun's entanglement in the case, but if Wei Ada became a new witness, he would have enough reasons to reverse the case. , He had an idea, and said: "Wait a minute! Zhizhou, this is overturning the case. If Zhizhou wants to accept this case, he should also avoid suspicion and choose another official to try."

Xu Zun frowned.

In the Song Dynasty, there were express regulations on the reversal of the case, which was called "reversal of differences and different investigations".

To put it simply, if the criminal wants to overturn the confession, or refuses to accept the sentence, and the circumstances are serious, then another official must be replaced to hear the case.

In this case, human life is at stake, and the circumstances must be serious.

Although Xu Zun also refused to accept the judgment of Dali Temple, it was an internal dispute within the judiciary, but if Zhang Fei appealed, it would definitely be a "translation of differences".

In fact, Xu Yuan said this to protect Xu Zun, because Xu Zun was just a Beijing official who took a temporary post in Dengzhou, and he would have to return to the capital in a short time.

"Substitution trial?"

Zhang Fei was startled.

In this ancient trial, talents are the key, and the law is only second. Why is he so arrogant, that is entirely the result of Xu Zun's connivance.

If it was another person, it is estimated that the trial has not yet started, so I will grab him first.

If you sue at every turn, you will definitely be a troublemaker.

Xu Zun glanced at Zhang Fei, nodded and said, "That's right, according to our court system, if you want to overturn the case, you have to replace it with another person for trial. Do you still sue?"

There was also a trace of provocation in this look.

We have already reached this stage, if we don’t continue, how can we do it.Zhang Fei said with a smile: "The sun is shining, Xiaomin has no fear. But Xiaomin has one request."

Xu Zun asked, "What request?"

Zhang Fei said: "Just like today, the trial is open."

Xu Zun pondered for a while, and only said: "You go back first."

"Xiaomin retire."

After Zhang Fei stepped back, Xu Zun carefully examined the pleadings again, and suddenly said, "Liu Hai."

"What is Zhizhou's order?" Liu Hai hurriedly stood up.

Xu Zundao: "You go and ask Cao Tixing to go to the mansion."

Liu Hai nodded with extreme reluctance, "Yes, I'll invite you right now, sir."

This Dengzhou government office is already the highest administrative and judicial department in the state capital, and it is impossible to transfer it to the county level, so it can only be transferred to the prison department.

Moreover, the responsibility of the prison department is to be in charge of various prisons, and has the power to supervise and arraign.

After the judgment of the state government and the county government, if the criminal and prison director feels that it is inappropriate, he can retry the trial. You must know that the criminal and prison director is directly responsible to the emperor.

It just so happened that Cao Yan, the criminal officer of Tokyo Luti, was currently inspecting the first generation of Dengzhou.

Half a month later, Cao Yan was finally invited here. Hearing that he was going to reverse the case against Ayun, the delicious food on the table suddenly became stale. As soon as he put down his chopsticks, he couldn't help wondering, "Xu Zhizhou, the evidence in this case is conclusive. , and Ah Yun has pleaded guilty, so what is there to argue?"

Xu Zun immediately handed over the verdict of Fang Datian's wounding case to Cao Yan, saying: "This case was sentenced by the Japanese officials a few days ago, please refer to Cao Yan's sentence."

After Cao Yan had read it, Xu Zun asked, "I don't know if Cao Tixing thinks my judgment is fair?"

Cao Yan nodded slightly and said: "Indeed. During the filial piety period, marriage is not allowed. This violates filial piety and is not allowed by the law. Fang Datian will indeed be punished for doing so, but is it too much compensation?"

Xu Zun said with a chuckle: "I'm not going to hide Cao's punishment. In fact, I also think that this claim is too much, but... But Wei Ada's reason for claiming the claim makes me unable to refute it!"

After all, he asked Liu Hai to hand over the extremely novel claim form to Cao Yan.

After reading it, Cao Yan had nothing to say, and asked himself, he couldn't write such a well-founded claim form, he couldn't even think of it, and asked, "Who wrote this?"

Xu Zun told the truth: "This is written by a person named Zhang San's Erbi, and it is this person who wants to reverse the case for Ayun."

"Oh?"

Cao Yan asked again: "Who is he from Ah Yun?"

Xu Zun said with a smile: "Cao Ti Xing may have forgotten that Ah Yun once saved a drowning man after committing a crime."

Cao Yan suddenly remembered that Ayun's case was naturally handled by the prison secretary, and said, "I remembered, the man Ayun saved seems to be Zhang San."

Xu Zundao: "Zhang San reversed the case for Ah Yun, most likely because he has the heart to repay his kindness."

Cao Yan nodded slightly and said: "The heart of repaying kindness is worth encouraging, but this law is like a mountain, it is not the principle of repaying kindness."

Xu Zun nodded and said: "But when we judged the Ayun case, we seemed to ignore the responsibility of Fang Datian and others. Now after the trial of this case, we found that Fang Datian and the others were duty-bound for this tragedy. Zhang San I think this case is enough for the government to re-examine whether Ayun has a motive for murder. And Zhang San also said that there is a new witness who can prove that Ayun has no murderous intentions."

Cao Yan asked, "What witness?"

Xu Zundao: "It's the victim Wei Ada."

This is the key point of reversal.

Cao Yan frowned and said, "Could it be that Zhang San helped Wei Ada to claim the land, so that Wei Ada changed his confession in order to repay Ayun for saving his life?"

Xu Zundao: "What Cao Tixing said is possible, but I believe Zhang San will not do such a foolish thing."

Wei Ada is the victim and the most important witness in this case. If he wants to testify for A Yun, it will already constitute a reason to reverse the case.

Cao Yan suddenly glanced at Xu Zun and said, "I heard that Xu Zhizhou refused to accept the judgment of Dali Temple on this case?"

Xu Zunbi said lightly: "The Dali Temple overlooked some details, and this official will make up for it."

Cao Yan said again: "If Xu Zhizhou refuses to accept the judgment after I make the judgment, then it would be a waste of effort."

This Xu Zun is not an ordinary magistrate, he is an official of Dali Temple. It was handed over to Dali Temple for review, but Xu Zun is someone in the court.

When Xu Zun protested again, Cao Yan felt that he was looking for something to do for himself.

Xu Zun hesitated for a while, and then said: "The reason why I don't accept the judgment of Dali Temple is because there are mistakes and omissions in the judgment of Dali Temple. As long as the judgment is impartial, why should I not accept it?"

Cao Yan nodded and said, "Okay! I'll take over the case."

For him, there is no doubt about this case. Even if it is not a heinous crime, it is also a crime of murder. You have to stay with him, and simply give him a reason to give up.

(End of this chapter)