to give her up to the mother. This of course led to a quarrel. The disputants went to law about it; and the case came up before Oka Tadasuke, then Magistrate of Yedo. The woman to whom the child had been in trusted asserted that it was her own offspring, and that the other woman was a pretender. Oka saw that the dispute was a difficult one to decide by ordinary methods. So he commanded the women to place the child between them, one to take hold of its right hand and the other of its left, and each to pull with all her might. " The one who is vic torious," said the Magistrate, " shall be declared the true mother." The real mother did not relish this mode of settling the dispute; and though she did as she was bidden and took hold of the child's hand, she did what she could to prevent the child from being hurt, and slackened her hold as soon as the foster-mother began to pull, thus giving her an easy victory. " There! " said the foster-mother, "the child, you see, is mine." But Oka interposed : " You are a deceiver. The real mother, I perceive, is the one who re laxed her grasp on the child, fearing to hurt her. But you thought only of winning in the struggle, and cared nothing for the feelings of the child. You are not the true mother; " and he ordered her to be bound. She immediately confessed her attempt to deceive, and begged for pardon. And the people who looked on said, " The judgment is indeed founded on a knowledge of human nature." It remains to give an instance or two of the criminal cases which from time to time came before the Chamber of Judges for de cision. Usually the question was as to the degree of punishment. The penalties often seem very severe; but they do not exceed in this respect the English penalties of the last century. 1752. Province of Oshu, Hotoke Shire, Hama village. Defendant : Jimbei, adopted son of the farmer, Chozaku, and Risaburo, farmer. Report. A certain Riyemon often came to the house of the said Chozaku, and enticed him into gambling games. Jimbei warned him of the un lawfulness of such conduct, and forbade him the house. A quarrel thus arose. Riyemon finally made an effort at reconciliation, and proposed to
have a little wine bout to seal the peace, and, as a certain Risaburo of the same village happened to be present, all three betook themselves to a wine shop in the neighborhood and began to drink. They ended by becoming intoxicated, and, as they were walking home along the beach, Riyemon started once more the original matter of contro versy. A scuffle took place, and Jimbei and Risa buro wounded Riyemon so severely with stones that he died. It was dark at the time, and it is impossible to say whose blow it was that killed him. The question is whether Jimbei should be punished by decapitation, without confiscation of property, and Risaburo with banishment. Judgment. Banishment for both. 1745. Joshu Province, Nakanishi village. De fendants : Sezayemon, farmer, and Shinkai, priest of Jingu Temple, Shinano village. Report. These two men had with others been sued by the authorities on account of unpaid taxes, and believed that their apprehension was due to the instigation of the headman, Senyemon. They formed the plan of revenging themselves when op portunity offered. A lawsuit arose, and Sezayemon had occasion to go to Yedo in company with the headman. As the latter was called back by his affairs, he left his seal with Sezayemon, to represent him in the matter of the lawsuit. This opportun ity for revenge was seized by Sezayemon, and he drew up several documents in blank with the head man's seal appended. Sezayemon was afterwards examined as a witness in regard to the tax-suit, and so he gave to the defendant priest one of the documents, with the instruction to make out a re ceipt for the payment of the taxes and another of the same sort to one Chubei, of the village. This was a most culpable offence. As the priest, more over, planned the crime with Sezayemon, and forged the tax-receipt, his conduct is disgraceful to one in his position, and deserves severe punish ment. The question is whether the punishment shall be, for Sezayemon, decapitation, with expos ure of head on the scaffold; and for the priest, de capitation, without privilege of public burial.1 Judgment. The above is approved. 1 There were four classes in the death punishment, de capitation being the least heinous; and the additional cir cumstances here mentioned indicate the fourth and second degrees, respectively, in this class, there being four degrees in all.
