Abstract
Given that the county seat of Chongqing city 重慶城 in the Qing dynasty was a stronghold of commerce and of merchant organizations, why did merchant organizations not become involved in cases of theft from non-local merchants staying at an inn? Given that inns established widely agreed “accommodation rules” (zhangui 棧規) to clarify the allocation of responsibility between innkeeper and guest in case of theft, why were these ignored by magistrates in the process of judgement? What issues should magistrates be concerned about in cases of hotel theft? The situations reflected in these cases of theft from inns differ from the understanding of commercial disputes, regulatory customs, civil mediation, the handling of theft, etc., seen in existing research. This article re-examines this question by focusing on cases of theft from inns found in the Qing-dynasty Ba county archives; it approaches them from the perspectives of commercial order, commercial knowledge, legal pluralism and modes of trial, and by looking at them from the standpoints of the non-local merchant, the innkeeper and the magistrate. It discusses the various considerations that informed the handling of cases of inn theft in late Qing Chongqing city, the ambiguity surrounding theft within the law, the multiple roles played by Chongqing merchant organizations, the inefficiency of subprefectural and county government administration, the dynamism of local organizations and the difficulties faced by innkeepers in the Chongqing city seat due to their lack of a guild or other trade-based association.
Keywords
Chongqing city, Ba County Archives, theft, accommodation rules (zhangui), merchant organization, commercial knowledge
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