Based on the cases in Xing-an-hui-lan (Conspectus of Penal Cases) in which leading cases were taken as legal source, this article tries to clarify the effect of leading cases in Qing judicial practice, to illustrate from the perspective of modern methodology of precedent the method of justification and process of legal reasoning, and to explore the features and characteristics of leading case system as well as the structure of law in the Qing Dynasty. The author concludes that leading cases had distinct judicial validity as an important legal source in the Qing Dynasty, and that a distinctive and complicated methodology of justification was established in their application. However, due to the distribution of power and mode of legal thought at that time, leading case system in Qing Dynasty was short on distinguishing technique as compared with modern precedents. |