CHINESE MARRIAGES. 
165 
“ China is a land of general inversion according to Western 
ideas. In the West legitimacy of offspring depends on the lawful 
character of the union from which they come. 
“ Conversely, the offspring of the t’sip being recognised as 
legitimate, the union from which they come must be regarded as 
lawful. 
“ English law again does not recognise any intermediate system 
between monogamy and polygamy and I cannot see how it is open 
to us to attribute to the t’sip any status than that of a polygamous 
wife.” 
It will be seen, then, that English law has been mated by our 
Judges to Chinese law and from the union a half-caste offspring 
has resulted. It is no fault of the Judges: they have had the al- 
most impossible task of welding Eastern ideas into Western law. 
What they have done has resulted in very fair justice and those 
Who readily clamour for legislation on the subject of Chinese 
marriages would do well to remember that several of the best law- 
yers we have had here have tried their hands on the subject and 
dropped it. The plain unvarnished, fact that governs the whole 
matter is that the views of the Chinese of this Colony are so very 
divergent that legislation is practically impossible. 
In the Federated Malay States Chinese custom is alone ob- 
served but, then, the common law of England does not run there, 
as it does here. 
In conclusion it may lie observed that the Munch u Code (Ta 
Ching Lu Li), the most comprehensive source for Western stud- 
ents of Chinese Law, was promulgated in 1647 by the Chinese 
Justinian, the Emperor Sham Chi. It consists of the Lu, corres- 
ponding to the first three parts of Justinian’s Pandects, and the 
Li, answering to that Emperor’s Xovellae. It was to the Lu, as 
translated by Sir George Staunton and published in London in 
1810, that our Courts have gone chiefly for their information. 
Staunton was, as is well known, an attache of the first British diplo- 
matic mission to China in 1793. Practically no epitome of Chinese 
law has appeared since his work. 
Lastly it must be remembered always that in the Chinese mind 
law (lu li) and general custom ( kuei chu ) are mixed up and can- 
not be separated. Chinese family law, in particular, is not purely 
a matter of law but includes a large number of general usages. 
The difficulties which our Courts have had to overcome can- 
not be understated and the writer can speak with very personal 
feeling as to tire difficulty in arriving at the precise Chinese law 
on any subject that presents itself to any one who can neither read 
nor speak the Chinese language. 
R. A. Soc., No. 83. 1921. 
