atime when it is in contemplation to frame an international code for the use of the subjects of the Chinese Em. pire and the foreigners who resort to the ports, it may not be uninteresting to trace the outlines of Chinese law, so far as they can be discerned in the Text Books that are in our possession. In 1647, the original edition of the Penal Code of China was published in the name of the Emperor Sunche, who was then a boy of six years old. The preface or preamble of this work asserts that much inconvenience had been experienced from the' unsatisfactory natare of the laws during the reign of the Mings. The Manchus, therefore, on coming to the throne, aware of the' abuses that existed, assembled a numerous body of magistrates for the purpose of revising the Penal Code. 'These jurists employed their, best abilities on the work set for them' to, do, and prodaced the "Ta Tsing Létih-lo" or the general laws of the imperial dynasty of sing. This code has passed' through many editions, the latest, so far as we know, extendingtotwenty-eightvolames octavo. The body of the work is arranged under the following heads, 1, General laws; 2, Civil laws; 8, Fiscal laws; 4, Ritual laws; 5, Military laws; Criminal laws; and 7, Laws relative to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.