Book

The golden yoke: the legal cosmology of Buddhist Tibet

Cornell University PressIthaca • Published In 1995 • Pages:

By: French, Rebecca Redwood.

Abstract
A masterful work on Tibetan law based on interviews and case studies from court archives. The author shows how law codes and practice is embedded in Buddhist cosmological and moral system, in which, for example, beliefs in Karma factor into a judge's decision making. The author discusses the history of the Tibetan law codes, the cosmology of law, the practice and process of law, the legal bureaucracy, law in the countryside, and Tibetan reasoning about crime and punishment. The author concludes that a world view based on cosmological integration, radical particularity and moral self-regulation profoundly shapes and affects legal practice in Tibet. FOr example, the legal code is used more as a guide to decision making, the arm of the law is short, and there is a lack of finality and closure in cases.
Subjects
Legal norms
Crime
Sanctions
Offenses against life
Property offenses
Trial procedure
Cosmology
Theological systems
Prophets and ascetics
culture
Tibetans
HRAF PubDate
2010
Region
Asia
Sub Region
Central Asia
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Ian Skoggard; 2009
Field Date
1981-1994
Coverage Date
1940-1959
Coverage Place
central Tibet
Notes
Rebecca Redwood French
Includes bibliographical references (p. [371]-388) and index
LCCN
95019360
LCSH
Law--China--Tibet
Customary law--China--Tibet
Ethnological jurisprudence
Tibet (China)--Social life and customs