the General Code of Joseon

 Gyeongguk Daejeon was completed and promulgated in the 16th year of King Seongjong's reign more than 500 years ago, and was the first unified comprehensive law code in Joseon that details the basic structure of governing the country to the daily Saeohal of the people. In 1457, King Sejo established the Yukjeon Sangjeong Pavilion and ordered the compilation of the Gyeongguk Daejeon. Of course, even before the Gyeonggukjeon, there were law codes such as "Chosun Gyeonggukjeon" and "Economic Yukjeon" in Joseon. Joseon declared that it would not repeat the mistakes of Goryeo, which had ruled only by royal law without basic laws, and put forward the rule of law from the beginning. However, as the law code was compiled whenever the king changed, various problems arose in enforcing the law. In the introduction of Gyeongguk Daejeon, Seo Geo-jeong recorded, "The provisions of the law were complicated and contradictory, so it was not unified as one." What the early Joseon legislators who compiled the Gyeongguk Daejeon emphasized the most was the stability of the law. In other words, the law made once should be a permanent law that does not change for a long time. In Gyeongguk Daejeon, Hojeon and Hyeongjeon were completed first, and the rest of Yi, Ye, Byeong, and Gongjeon were completed in the 13th year of King Sejo. However, it was not implemented due to the death of King Sejo, but after King Yejong and King Seongjong, in 1485, the 16th year of King Seongjong, the first unified comprehensive law was born 90 years after the establishment of the Joseon Dynasty. The reason why it took more than 30 years for the three kings to complete the Gyeongguk Daejeon was that they wanted to make a perfect law that stipulated very detailed things. The completion of the Gyeongguk Daejeon meant that the normative system of the Joseon Dynasty, which wanted to rule the country by law, was established and stabilized. In Gyeongguk Daejeon, a total of 319 legal texts were composed of Yukjeon, that is, Yi, Ho, Ye, Byeong, Hyung, and Gong, and this order was based on the importance of work. 'Transfer' is the law on internal and external registers, central and local control, types of management and personnel systems. "Hoejeon" corresponds to economic laws such as the tax system and Nokbong, land, houses, and slave trading, "previous war" was about kinship laws and diplomacy such as the past system and marriage system, and "military war" was about military system. "Hyungjeon" was the law on trials and punishments, property inheritance, public service, and private labor costs, and "gongjeon" was the law on industries such as roads, bridges, and metrology. As Joseon was a country that valued example, Gyeongguk Daejeon had the largest amount in the past. Among the old contents is that if the daughter of an official does not marry because she is poor until she is 30 years old, she is severely guilty of her father. In addition, there is a social security system in Gyeongguk Daejeon, which allows public officials to take a week off if they marry, and 15 days off when their wife, father-in-law, or mother-in-law dies, and parents are given special leave. In addition, there is a regulation that stipulates the Ministry of Justice and all prisons to treat prisoners with diseases by setting one member on duty every month. In addition, if a sick person reported it to the government office, he/she could send a doctor for treatment, and if he/she did not go to the hospital immediately, he/she could file a complaint at the patient's house, and the accused lawmaker was punished according to the law. Looking at the improvement, each village has a provision to prepare relief goods every year in preparation for a bad harvest. The law stipulates that if there are many people who starve to death due to a famine, the head of the village who does not take care of them and report them to the court will be severely punished. In Gyeongguk Daejeon, there is a clause that strictly governs public officials who commit corruption or exercise their power at will with the highest punishment. There is also a content called "collection" that requires the confiscation of the property of public officials who intercepted taxes in the middle. The official, who intercepted rice, grains, gold or silver bowls that the people paid as taxes, forced his wife and children to receive property even if he died. In addition, according to the amount of tax stolen, the "Daemyeongryul" was given a heavy sentence of 100 gongjangs or sentenced to death, and property was confiscated. For example, in November 24, King Seongjong's 24th year, Kim Ji, who was a prefectural governor of the village for collecting taxes, was found to have stolen 66 pieces of cotton cloth and 1,155 copies of paper, and was sentenced to death. The "Daimyeongryul" was a law introduced from China, and a regulation that was not in the Gyeongguk Daejeon was supposed to apply this pronoun. In addition, according to the "Hyeongjeon" of Gyeongguk Daejeon, it is stipulated that those aged 70 or older and 15 or younger cannot be imprisoned unless they are robbed or murdered. In addition, if a mother committed a crime, even if she needed torture or committed a crime equivalent to the death penalty, the child was released and sentenced 100 days later. It was in the 13th year of King Taejong's reign that the "Sambok System," which judges death row prisoners three times, first appeared in the Annals, and after that, the "Sambok System" was established by law in Gyeongguk Daejeon. In the Gyeongguk Daejeon sentence, it is required to investigate the central and local death row prisoners three times and report them to the king, and even low-ranking officials such as butchers and slaves were no exception. In addition, according to the regulations on public servants' expenses recorded in the sentence, women are given a month's leave before childbirth and 50 days after childbirth, and husbands are also given a vacation for 15 days after childbirth. The law stipulated that even slaves who lived as the lowest class and suffered various grievances should be given maternity leave. In addition, there are many other contents in Gyeongguk Daejeon that break the stereotypes of modern people, and among them, the inheritance law is indispensable. In the Gyeongguk Daejeon sentence, there is a provision that stipulates that the inherited property of parents is equally distributed to all children. In addition, in the past, the dimensions of the seals of the management ladies were set, so that the area of the seals was different depending on the class. The fact that a woman has a seal means that she can have an independent property after marriage. In addition, when all assets were distributed, women signed and men signed so that the inheritance of the property was made with the consent of the couple. In this way, Joseon was realizing equality between men and women by law, at least in terms of property distribution and inheritance. When Sejo began compiling the Gyeongguk Daejeon, he tried to create an "exemplary law that will not be revised again and will be permanently observed." Following its will, King Seongjong prevented the Gyeongguk Daejeon from being repaired recklessly, and if anyone asked for it, he wanted to rule it by law. However, as the times changed and there was a need to create or revise legal texts, new law codes such as Sokdaejeon, Daetraditional edition, and Daejeon Hoetong continued to be compiled, but Gyeongguk Daejeon did not touch them carelessly. The introduction of Daejeon Hoetong, the last law of the Joseon Dynasty compiled during the reign of King Gojong, said, "We have added respect by leaving behind laws that were implemented in the past and now abolished." The spirit of not trying to fix Gyeongguk Daejeon recklessly continued into future generations. More than 370 years ago, in 1625, in the third year of King Injo's reign, a Gungno (a palace slave) was arrested, who served the king's third son, Prince Inpyeong. The reason why Gung-no was caught was because he wore extravagant clothes that were beyond his means. In the end, Gungno was hit by dozens of thongs in his knees, and all his clothes were burned. The Gyeongguk Daejeon has detailed regulations on when, what clothes to wear and what shoes to wear depending on their status, from government officials ranging from 1st to 9th. In the Joseon Dynasty, which was a strict status society, clothes were a means of indicating identity because the shape, color, and fabric of clothes were different depending on their status. Therefore, the law stipulated very detailed details of clothes suitable for their status, and strict punishment was imposed on those who violated them. This was to protect the strict status system society of the Joseon Dynasty. However, even ordinary people had the opportunity to wear luxurious clothes that did not fit their status only once in their lives, which was during the wedding. The wonsam worn by the bride was in the form of clothes worn by the princess or the owner, and the Samogwandae worn by the groom was the official clothes worn by the white officers. Since the wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, it allowed people to enjoy the luxury of clothing for just one day on that day, which comforted the dissatisfaction of the general public. The development of clothing culture during the Joseon Dynasty was due to the development of the textile industry that can supply various clothes of numerous classes. In particular, in the 15th century, when the Gyeongguk Daejeon was compiled, the cotton industry developed, and the cotton industry revolutionized the clothing industry during the Joseon Dynasty. Cotton seeds, the raw material of unknown origin, first entered Korea in 1362, during the reign of King Gongmin of Goryeo, and when Moon Ik-jeom, who went to the Yuan Dynasty as an envoy, brought 10 cotton seeds into the brush shell, cotton was distributed to Korea. The cultivation and distribution of cotton was especially welcome for the common people. Cotton clothes made of cotton to ordinary people who could not wear expensive silk clothes played the role of winter clothes as well as ordinary clothes, and by the time of King Taejong's reign, all from aristocrats to ordinary people were already damaged by cotton. When cotton became popular, it was possible to pay taxes with cotton from King Sejong, and after King Jungjong, cotton became an important item to cover military resources. In other words, during the Joseon Dynasty, cotton was not just cloth, but had a great influence on the national finances and personal income. In the Joseon Dynasty, gunfire such as hemp, cotton, and Mapo were used as commodity currency, but when the wood cotton industry developed, cotton became the most cannon commodity currency, and the value of cotton was determined by quality. At one time, the court tried to stop the use of commodity money such as cotton cloth in order to allow the use of common currency such as coins and coins, but eventually failed to prevent it. The reason why gunfire such as cotton cloth and Mapo could be used as currency in the government or the private sector was that cotton cloth and Mapo were indispensable necessities of life for the people. In particular, cotton cloth was used as the most important means of money until the 17th century when coins began to be widely used by ordinary people. As such, clothes played an extremely important role in the living economy of the common people during the Joseon Dynasty. Even during the Joseon Dynasty, when strict status attire was applied, as the times changed, there were many incidents that could not be laughed at because of new fashion and trends. At that time, there were men dressed as women, and if a man was caught wearing clothes, he would be beaten by 100 people, regardless of the people, and sent home to a remote island. There was also a time when it was popular for men to wear earrings, and the Ministry of Justice gave them a month to fix them and imposed heavy punishment if they did not fix them. The reign of King Seongjong was a time when the cultural heritage system was almost completed based on the achievements of King Sejong and King Sejo. As society stabilizes and people have a desire for a better life, a decadent trend has gradually sprouted and the number of people who dress extravagantly has increased significantly. In addition, as luxury clothes that began with gisaengs spread to ordinary women, and even the social class was ignored, strong laws were prepared in the law to correct the trend of luxury. The kings of the Joseon Dynasty especially dealt with luxury strongly, and the starting point was Gyeonggukjeon. In Gyeongguk Daejeon, the punishment corresponding to the violation of the prescribed costume was even set. In particular, if luxury items such as gold and silver were used or silk such as Saranyeondan was used when children under the age of Dangsanggwan married, the punishment of the 80s was imposed. It was the idea of kings at the time that when the luxury of clothes reaches its peak, courtesy collapses and social discipline collapses. In fact, the past kings of Joseon made frugality a great virtue, and King Yeongjo ordered the saving of clothing and food, especially in the wedding ceremony, and emphasized that the people would follow on their own if they saved from above. In that sense, the record written in September 22nd year of King Seongjong's Annals is worth noting. "The king's frugality was the same in the Joseon Dynasty, as there were many places that broke out and there were many times in the white sympathy of the king." In the Joseon Dynasty, clothes were the example and social order. Therefore, people of the Joseon Dynasty tried to keep their manners through clothes so that if they wore clothes that did not fit their status, the head of the family was punished. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Joseon Gyeonggukjeon (Taejo 3rd year of 1394): A law code that synthesizes the governing ideology according to the form of Gyeongsejeon of the Yuan Dynasty. Economic Six-War (Taejo 6, 1397): A law code that classifies and contains the laws to be observed from 1388 to 1397 as the original text. Economic Six Papers (1412 Taejo 12): A code of law compiled from 1388 to 1412 in three volumes: "Wonyukjeon" and "Sokyukjeon." Gyeonggukdaejeon (16th year of King Seongjong's reign in 1485): The Basic Law of the Joseon Dynasty, which integrated and reorganized the statutes from King Taejo to King Sejo. Transcript of Daejeon (1492): A code of laws that summarized the statutes from the time of the Great War to 1492. King Gyeongguk Daejeon Juhae (1555 King Myeongjong 10): An official explanatory book that interprets 62 articles and terms that are difficult to interpret among the provisions of the King Gyeongguk Daejeon. Sokdaejeon (22nd year of King Myeongjong's reign in 1746) was compiled in the same way as Gyeonggukdaejeon, covering the laws that must be followed in the post-Gyeonggukdaejeon laws. coexistence with the Great War of the State Unification of Daejeon (9th year of King Jeongjo's reign in 1785): An integrated code of laws that integrated Gyeongguk Daejeon and Sokdaejeon and compiled by adding later statutes. Daejeon Hoetong (2nd year of King Gojong's reign in 1865): Joseon's Last Law, compiled by compiling and adding the statutes after the unification of Daejeon.