There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 345

346. The Age of Romance (3)

According to my advisors, the history of the Unauthorized Legal Advocates dates back to the Goryeo Dynasty.

The official in the Ministry of Justice who handled disputes involving slaves was called Dogwan Jibu, and his rank was quite high, a 3rd rank official.

Private lawyers were called Unauthorized Legal Advocates (外知部) [Waechibu, literally “Outside Knowledge Department”], in comparison to this Jibu, suggesting their influence was considerable.

The problem is, it’s illegal.

“I’ve heard that as the country grows, disputes are increasing, but many people are struggling because they don’t know the law well. What if we legalized the Unauthorized Legal Advocates altogether?”

My advisors were horrified at my words.

“Ruffians always get involved in lawsuits and abuse the law, and the trouble of litigation stems from these groups. This is why the so-called Unauthorized Legal Advocates have been punished since ancient times. Your Majesty is trying to increase disputes by giving them positions. What is going on?”

I know. There were such types in modern times too.

But they aren’t the kind of people who will disappear just by cracking down on them unconditionally. That will only push the demand for legal professionals into the shadows.

‘These people… There’s no way to avoid disputes in human life.’

You have to sue when you have to, and trying to eliminate it completely isn’t the answer.

“I’ve heard that Legal Officials often do Unauthorized Legal Advocate work as a side job. There are many cases where people suffer unfairly because they don’t know the law, so it’s inevitable to seek advice from them.”

However, the reason why the advisors opposed wasn’t just because it encouraged litigation.

They were looking at the amateur Unauthorized Legal Advocates with eyes that seemed to see constitutional law experts, exaggerating a little.

“Legal Official graduates may be a little better, but the Unauthorized Legal Advocates interpret the clauses arbitrarily without qualifications, deceive the people, and try to extract money as if they can guarantee a win. Isn’t this no different from fraud?”

“So we need to legalize the Unauthorized Legal Advocates even more.”

It won’t be perfect, but it would be better to create a verification process to some extent.

“What if we only allow those who have passed the Legal Examination and received a certificate to work as Unauthorized Legal Advocates?”

This way, we can at least filter out scammers who don’t even know the law and talk nonsense.

‘At this point, we need to organize this and move on.’

As the population increases and society becomes more complex, the demand for judicial services is increasing, but there aren’t many people who know the law well.

Moreover, judicial processing is also being done in a crude way.

‘The magistrate holds all administrative and judicial power.’

In fact, it wasn’t wrong to say that they lived like kings in the counties they were assigned to.

However, there is a problem with having separate people in charge of trials in each county.

Even if a small village has one or two lawsuits a year, it would be a lot.

Even if the population increases, it cannot be compared to the population density of modern times. Then we have no choice but to refer to past cases…

‘Come to think of it, how did they conduct trials in the old days?’

They must have been experiencing the same problems as Joseon now.

In Joseon, the magistrate was in charge of punishment, but Europe must be different.

Of course, as someone who has no knowledge of Western history, I could only think of images of white men with wigs holding hammers.

By the way, why do they wear wigs to court?

I don’t think they do that in the United States, but did judges wear wigs there in the past? For example, in the Wild West…

As I was following the flow of consciousness, I felt like lightning struck my head.

‘Ah!’

The guy who appeared like licorice in a pharmacy with the sheriff in Westerns.

The circuit judge.

A person who pulls a carriage and travels around villages to hold trials.

‘Should we set up courts in the government office or counties with large populations, and have the rest rotate around the district and conduct circuit trials?’

Coincidentally, there is a job in Joseon that is dedicated to similar tasks.

‘Royal Secret Agent.’

“The Royal Secret Agent travels around several counties, dismisses tyrannical magistrates, and resolves unfair matters, doesn’t he?”

What I focused on was the part where he exercised judicial power delegated by the king.

Of course, the judge doesn’t have to walk around in 거지같은 [Geoji-gateun, meaning “beggar-like” or “ragged”] clothes on purpose.

We just need to meet the judicial needs of counties with sparse populations.

Surprisingly, the opposition from the advisors was not great.

Separation of powers is a ridiculous idea in this era, but the advisors seem to accept it as the king’s intention to be wary of the magistrate holding all administrative, judicial, and military power and to divide it.

However, it is not a bad story for the advisors either.

According to my plan, hundreds more positions would be created, and 외직 [Oe-jik, meaning “outside posts” or “regional positions”] would have the real power to match the magistrate, so there is no way they would oppose it.

…Except for our stubborn old man Heo Jo.

“Your Majesty, it is the magistrate’s natural right to arrest criminals and punish them. It is still working without any major problems, so why are you trying to change the system by selecting people?”

Heo Jo continued.

“And if there is an official in charge of trials separately, we will naturally have to fill the positions of his subordinates, so how will we cover their salaries and expenses?”

I smiled.

‘I was wondering when I should introduce judicial fees in addition to administrative fees.’

Thanks to Heo Jo directly mentioning the cost issue, it will be easy to bring up the story.

“As the number of people gradually increases and lawsuits continue, how can a magistrate who is busy taking care of the county’s affairs examine each lawsuit one by one?

The old saying goes that it is better to miss ten thieves than to make one innocent person, but inevitably, unfair situations will be created!”

The advisors, who were trained in 명언 [Myeong-eon, meaning “wise saying” or “famous quote”] bombing, did not say, ‘I have never heard of such an old saying.’

“The cost problem can be sufficiently covered since we have already created a system of collecting taxes when acquiring patents.”

The increasing demand for judicial services is not a loss for this reason.

“But if that happens, won’t there be cases where people without money cannot sue?”

I’ve heard that there are systems such as litigation structures and cost compensation in modern times, but it’s hard to think that it will fundamentally work properly in this era.

‘The problem is money after all.’

However, in the case of 산송 [San-song, meaning “grave relocation disputes,” often involving wealthy families], there are many rich guys.

Even now, it costs a lot of money to sue, whether 음으로 [Eum-euro, meaning “covertly” or “under the table”] or 양으로 [Yang-euro, meaning “overtly” or “officially”], to dispute property, etc., even if it is not a serious criminal case, right?

If we 양지화 [Yang-ji-hwa, meaning “bring to the surface” or “make official”] the litigation costs in this way, it is beneficial for the person suing in that the costs themselves are clearly determined.

From the national point of view, the fees can be fully attributed to the national treasury.

I can’t say that there are no guys who 슈킹 [Shu-king, Konglish term for embezzlement or skimming] in the middle.

‘Logically, you have to pay that much money.’

“In the case of lawsuits related to serious crimes, the criminal division of the government office shall be responsible for prosecution, and in the case of lawsuits to dispute property or relocate graves, each party shall bear the costs.”

In other words, it was an order to separate criminal and civil lawsuits and apply this.

The latter will have to pay their own money to sue, whether they hire an Unauthorized Legal Advocate to fight or appeal directly to the judge.

“Isn’t this a kind of miscellaneous tax?”

“Our Majesty likes to scrape together taxes, so it can’t be helped.”

‘Be quiet.’

Comparing the modern tax system of collecting fees and taxes for stamping documents with miscellaneous taxes that bad guys collect at will.

‘It’s not like I’m spending money to build a palace or play with women.’

I’m doing some civil engineering, but that’s all part of the national land renovation project.

It means I’m using it all for good.

‘Now, what project should I start with the money I’m going to collect this time?’

I heard that housing demand is exploding in Liaodong.

Should I build a single-story apartment there?

* * *

“I heard that they are going to officially issue 첩지 [Cheop-ji, meaning “official certificates” or “licenses”] to the Unauthorized Legal Advocates to approve their activities.”

“Aren’t only the Unauthorized Legal Advocates hitting the jackpot?”

“Well, how much money have they been extracting, saying that it’s a life-threatening job until now? It’s good that our family has to 정리 [Jeong-ri, meaning “sort out” or “settle”] my grandfather’s land this time.”

“I’ve reduced my resolve to get hit by 장 [Jang, meaning “caning” or “flogging” as a punishment].”

The whole capital was buzzing with the news that the Unauthorized Legal Advocates would be legalized.

There is clearly a demand for legal professionals in this era.

The Unauthorized Legal Advocates were suppressed even by King Seongjong, the legal monarch who completed the Gyeongguk Daejeon [Gyeongguk Daejeon, meaning “Grand Code for Governing the Nation,” a comprehensive legal code], but they survived to the end and flourished until the end of the Korean Empire.

Therefore, not to mention the Unauthorized Legal Advocates themselves, the 도성 부민 [Do-seong Bu-min, meaning “residents of the capital city”] who needed legal advice in various ways were secretly pleased with this.

“Then what should we call them now? Surely the country won’t call them Unauthorized Legal Advocates.”

The Unauthorized Legal Advocate itself is a slang term for an official of the outside (外) branch.

Therefore, the country had to decide on a new name.

I was going to use the name 변호사 [Byeon-ho-sa, modern Korean word for “lawyer”], which I was familiar with, but the 조정 [Jo-jeong, meaning “royal court” or “government”] advisors had a hatred for 변호사 that was comparable to that of Americans.

Due to the opposition that they could not call the ruffian Unauthorized Legal Advocates 선비 [Seon-bi, meaning “scholar” or “gentleman”] (士), the name 변호인 [Byeon-ho-in, meaning “advocate” or “defender”] was settled on instead.

“Instead, the Legal Officials who used to hold concurrent positions have to quit their jobs and come out to be 변호인.”

“If you quit your job, will you get the 첩지 right away?”

“I guess so. I should have made my son a Legal Official.”

“아서게 [A-seo-ge, meaning “Don’t even think about it” or “No way”]. Do you think anyone can do that? Even if it’s 잡과 [Jap-gwa, meaning “miscellaneous examination,” a lower-level civil service exam], you have to pass 복시 [Bok-si, meaning “second-stage examination”].”

The Ministry of Justice and local government offices select a certain number of people to provide legal education in order to train Legal Officials.

Those who have studied here can work as Legal Officials if they pass the 초시 [Cho-si, meaning “preliminary examination”] and 복시 of 율과 [Yul-gwa, meaning “legal examination”].

From that point of view, it is not much different from the modern system of training legal professionals.

Until now, even if they were Unauthorized Legal Advocates, they didn’t need any qualifications – 당연하다 [Dang-yeon-hada, meaning “of course” or “naturally”] because it was illegal – they could just be Unauthorized Legal Advocates if they were said to know the law a little.

However, according to the king’s will to thoroughly exclude amateur lawyers, only those who have formally studied 율학 [Yul-hak, meaning “legal studies”] and passed 율과 can now become 변호인.

“How many 율과 do you 뽑는다고 [Ppob-neun-da-go, meaning “select” or “recruit”] in a year?”

“As the 조정 grows, the 문과 [Mun-gwa, meaning “literary examination,” the highest-level civil service exam], which used to be held once every three years, is now 뽑아대 [Ppob-a-dae, meaning “selecting frequently” or “recruiting often”] every year with 증광시 [Jeung-gwang-si, meaning “increased examination,” a special civil service exam] and 별시 [Byeol-si, meaning “separate examination,” another type of special civil service exam], so wouldn’t they increase the number of 율과 that much?”

“Hey, what’s the point of just 뽑아놓으면 [Ppob-a-noh-eu-myeon, meaning “selecting and leaving them”] 율과생 [Yul-gwa-saeng, meaning “students of legal examination”] indiscriminately? Will there be that many people who will use Unauthorized Legal Advocates?”

“You’re saying that because you don’t know well. I heard that they can’t work because patent lawsuits are already piling up.”

Strictly speaking, there were more cases of requesting 변호인 to register new patents than lawsuits.

Since the 업무 [Eom-mu, meaning “tasks” or “duties”] of 변호사, 변리사 [Byeon-li-sa, meaning “patent attorney”], and 행정사 [Haeng-jeong-sa, meaning “administrative agent”] were not clearly distinguished in this era, 변호인 took on the role in a lump.

Most of the clients were 공단 [Gong-dan, meaning “industrial complex” or “guild”], or guilds, that were rapidly emerging.

The name 공단 was given because 공인 [Gong-in, meaning “craftsmen” or “workers”] gathered to form a 집단 [Jip-dan, meaning “group” or “collective”], and they mainly followed the name of the neighborhood, such as Guro Industrial Complex if it was in Guro, and Seongseo Industrial Complex if it was in the west of Seong.

These 공단 share technology with each other, and they are developing in a direction that maximizes the efficiency of division of labor by working together.

The technology they possess will be inherited and developed by the 공단 and create more value in the future.

Well, this is not only the story of 공단.

From the agricultural cooperatives 박힌 [Bakhin, meaning “rooted” or “established”] in each region to the 상행 [Sang-haeng, meaning “merchant guilds”], 공단, and 변호인 that are created in each city.

The rapidly increasing population of Joseon due to the 급전직하 [Geup-jeon-jik-ha, meaning “rapidly declining”] infant mortality rate was creating demand in various fields, and if you were talented, you could accumulate wealth as much as you wanted in this constantly growing land.

The age of romance has arrived.