Historiens à la barre. Comment les spécialistes du droit des Qing participent à la création du droit coutumier de Hong Kong

This is a testimony by a renowned historian of Qing law who recently appeared before the Hong Kong Supreme Court, to act as an expert in “ Chinese customary law” at the request of a party involved in a dispute on land inheritance. At the opening of the trial, he recognized one well-known and estimated colleague in the expert engaged by the other party. During one week, these two legal historians called up a vast array of knowledge in Chinese history, culture, and law, to ensure the triumph of their party. The contest bore on lineage kinships and inheritance, on the mourning duties as represented in charts included in the Qing code, their legal significance and possible enforcement, on the tabooing of personal names in Chinese history, etc. As a result, this testimony raise questions on the very nature of so called “ Chinese customary law”, and gives insights on the practice of Common law in a Chinese environment.Su Yigong, Bourgon Jérôme. Historiens à la barre. Comment les spécialistes du droit des Qing participent à la création du droit coutumier de Hong Kong. In: Études chinoises, n°28, 2009. Numéro spécial sur le droit chinois. pp. 95-118