(Translation) 庚午年 私奴 丁山 江陵大都護府 立旨
| Primary Source | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
Title | |
| English | Notarized Application for Land Register by Private Slave Jeongsan in the gyeong-o year [1750] | |
| Chinese | 庚午年 私奴 丁山 江陵大都護府 立旨 | |
| Korean(RR) | 경오년 사노 정산 강릉대도호부 입지(Gyeongonyeon Sano Jeongsan Gangneung-daedohobu Ipji) | |
| Text Details | ||
| Genre | Historical Manuscripts | |
| Type | Record | |
| Author(s) | 私奴 丁山 | |
| Year | 1750 | |
| Source | ||
| Key Concepts | petition, notarized application, slave, letter of authorization, evidence | |
| Translation Info | ||
| Translator(s) | Participants of 2018 Summer Hanmun Workshop (Advanced Translation Group) | |
| Editor(s) | Jaeyoon Song, Sanghoon Na | |
| Year | 2018 | |
Introduction
Original Script
| Classical Chinese | English |
|---|---|
|
加南居私奴丁山[手寸] 右以陳所志矣段矣 上典利川居宋生員田畓庫乙買得爲居乎矣 奴子守鳳基矣上典宅牌子導良成明文許給爲乎矣他官遠地之 事乙此時人心或有雜談是白可如是明文牌子幷以粘連仰訴爲白去乎 後考次立旨及踏印成給事乙千萬祝手爲乎爲 行下 向敎 是事 大 都護府 處分[官押] 庚午五月日 所志 [題辭] 後考次立旨成給 十七日[官印]
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III-1. 庚午年私奴丁山江陵大都護府立旨 Notarized Application for Land Register [1] of Gangneung Special City for Slave Jeongsan in the gyeong-o year [1750]
Private Male Slave Jeongsan residing in Ganam (Signature of Finger Joint)
The purpose of this application is as follows:
My master [Yi Naebeon] purchased farm fields and rice paddies from Saengwon[2] Song residing in Icheon. Based upon the letter of authorization given to his slave Subong by his master [Mr. Song], the agreement document was made. Since the matter occurred in another distant region [Gangneung], the people nowadays might make an issue out of it. Thus, by attaching the bill of sale with the letter of authorization together to this application like this, I appeal to you to notarize the application by stamping it in order to be used as evidence later. I beg you earnestly rubbing my hands thousands of times.
Please notarize this application.
Request for Approval of the Greater [Gangneung] Prefecture[3](Official Signature)[4]
The application submitted on a certain day[5] of the fifth month of the gyeong-o year [1750].
[Official Decision] A certificate is issued in order to be used as evidence later.
On the seventeenth day (Government Seal)
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Discussion Questions
- On what grounds did the slaves dispose of their master's property?
- How much did the slaves understand the document written in Chinese characters?
- ↑ Once the application (soji 所志) was notarized by a government office, it was called ipji 立旨. See Choe Seunghui, Hanguk gomunseo yeongu (Seoul: Jisik saneopsa, 1989), 275.
- ↑ Saengwon 生員 was a scholar who passed the classics licentiate examination. The licentiate examinations were of two kinds; the classics licentiate examination (saengwon-gwa 生員科) that examined candidates on the Four Books and Five Classics of China, and the literary licentiate examination (jinsa-gwa 進士科) that tested skill in composing such Chinese literary forms as shi poetry (shi 詩), rhyme-prose (fu 賦), documentary prose (biao 表), and the problem-essay (chaek 策). See Ki-baik Lee, A New History of Korea, trans. Edward W. Wagner (Seoul: Ilchokak, 1984), 180.
- ↑ In the late Joseon period, there were five greater prefectures: Gangneung, Andong, Yeongheung, Yeongbyeon, and Changwon.
- ↑ The signature gwan 官 was engraved in wood first and then stamped on the document for the sake of convenience.
- ↑ According to Sim Yeong-hwan (Senior Researcher at the Jangseogak Archives of The Academy of Korean Studies), it was usual that the exact date was not filled in because the drafter did not know when the application would be delivered to the authorities. In addition, according to Mun Sukja (Researcher at the SNU Law Research Institute), the documents of the late Joseon period tended to omit the exact date unlike those of the early- or mid-Joseon period. Mun Sukja, “Reading the Documents of Property Distribution” (lecture, The Academy of Korean Studies, Seongnam, Gyeonggi province, August 22, 2018).
