During the period of waiting for the defendant, Li Yanqing was not idle either. He went to the back hall to discuss the case with Mo Jun. Although he punished the lawyer and the plaintiff on the grounds of "relieving things urgently", this was the first case he faced when he took office in Jiayu County, and he did not want to take it lightly.

After reading the lawsuit, Mo Jun smiled at Li Yanqing: "The 1,000 guan of money borrowed by Song Xiaoyi occurred last summer. He bought a shop last fall. Time can be connected. There are two problems here. First, the law of the Song Dynasty does not recognize the principle of repaying the father's debts and sons. Since a person is dead, the money can be legally repaid; secondly, it depends on whether the money is guaranteed. If there is a guarantor, the money will be paid by the guarantor. If there is a guarantor, the plaintiff can ask for the use of the guarantor to pay off the debt. However, the loan contract is written vaguely, just to guarantee the return of principal and interest. What does the guarantee mean? It depends on whether the two parties have a verbal agreement."

Li Yanqing asked in confusion again: "Since there is no reason to pay off the debts of the father and the son, why should the plaintiff keep an eye on that shop?"

"Maybe they think that borrowing money is to buy a shop, so this shop is the guarantee mentioned by Song Xiaoyi. They want to transfer the understanding and turn the shop into a guaranteed item. However, how much money does this shop cost? This is still a question. If the location is better, I guess it will be far more than a thousand guan. One possibility is that Song Xiaoyi didn't have enough money to buy a shop, so he asked the plaintiff to borrow a thousand guan."

Li Yanqing nodded, the possibility of this is extremely high, and he asked again: "What should we do to judge this case between Mr. Na Yi?"

Mo Jun smiled slightly and said, "The six words are to be 'family, legal and reasonable' when deciding civil cases in prefectures and counties. As long as the county lord grasps these six words and takes into account the interests of the plaintiff and the defendant, then the case will be easy to be sentenced. However, it is best to fully understand the situation before the judgment and not listen to the one-sided words of both parties."

Li Yanqing smiled happily and said, "Listen to you is better than reading for ten years. I know what to do."

At this time, a yamen runner came in and reported: "Qi Bixian, the defendant and the middle-aged man have been brought here!"

Li Yanqing stood up and said, "Let's go and see this case!"

………

A gavel sounded and the case was heard again. Li Yanqing shouted: "Take a tooth!"

The commodity economy of the Song Dynasty was highly developed and contract management was also very perfect. Some transactions such as land, house purchases and sales and standard contracts were also officially formulated. Ordinary loan transactions such as the same person must also be signed with witnesses. The contract is in triplicate, one for each borrower and one for each borrower, and the intermediary takes one for the contract. If a dispute arises, the government will recognize the contract, with black and white words, and the writing shall prevail.

The spirit of the contract in the Song Dynasty far exceeded that of later generations. To give a simple example, for example, the monarchs of the Song Dynasty often issued edicts to pardon some public and private debts to show mercy on the people, but it is very unfair to the debtors encountering such a pardon. Therefore, many debtors specially added a "pardon guarantee" clause to the contract to avoid the influence of the king's amnesty.

Once the two parties have a dispute and sue, even if the borrower takes out the king's pardon as a reason and asks for exemption of the debt, the government has no choice but to do so. After all, the "apprentice guarantee" clause is written there, and the government can only recognize the contract. There is also a clear provision in the "Song Zhengtong" that "if the public and private property is offered by private goods, the official will be subject to private contracts, and the official will not be responsible." This means that "apprentice guarantee" can fight against pardon.

For example, today's case is quite special. The loans of both parties are required to pay back the money, but the borrower dies. Whether the wife and children should continue to repay the loan? This question was not clearly stipulated before the Northern Song Dynasty. The official tended to not have to pay back the money, but there were no specific legal terms to follow.

It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty that it was clear that legislation was made for this, "I violated the owed tea, salt, money and goods, and I will only pay back the property of the owed person and the owed person, and that is, the unsupervised relatives and the wife who had remarried and still pursued the case."

But now there are no clear provisions in the Song Dynasty's criminal law, and it only relies on the experience of the government to determine the case, so the creditor hired a lawyer who is proficient in law to help with the lawsuit.

The middleman named Yang Shuaner, who was a tooth man. He facilitated the transaction between the two parties, but was not the debt guarantor. He rushed forward in a panic and bowed, "The villain Yang Shuaner, see the county lord!"

"Do you have a contract?"

"Yes! The villain brought it."

Yang Shuaner quickly submitted the contract, and the yamen runners handed over the contract to Li Yanqing. Li Yanqing and the defendant's contract to Mo Jun, asking him to check. In addition to Mo Jun, there was also a seat next to him in the Fa Cao obeying. His duty was to record the county magistrate's inquiry and answers quickly.

Li Yanqing asked again: "In addition to the contract, what verbal agreements do the two parties have? Such as guarantees."

"Reporting to the county lord, Song Xiaoyi repeatedly promised to pay back the money, but he didn't use any guarantees for the items. However, he also said that the main purpose of borrowing money was to buy a shop. He didn't have enough money, so he borrowed a thousand guan and paid it off in three years, with a monthly interest rate of one cent. However, the person died and the matter was in trouble."

Li Yanqing asked again: "Without a guarantee, why is He Laoliu willing to borrow money?"

"Qi Bing County Lord, because it is not the first time that Song Xiaoyi has borrowed money, he has borrowed it several times before, and he has paid back the money on time and has a good credit, so He Laoliu did not ask for his guarantee this time."

Li Yanqing nodded, "You retreat first, and I will call you later if you need it."

Yang Shuaner stepped down, and Li Yanqing slapped the aggro again, "Take the defendant!"

Soon, a young woman with a white body was brought up. She was only over 20 years old and had beautiful eyes. She stepped forward and knelt down and said sadly: "Little woman, Jiang, kowtowed to the Lord of County!"

No wonder the former county magistrate sentenced her not to pay back the money. This woman seemed to be born weak. I felt pity for her. Li Yanqing said, "Get up and reply, don't kneel down!"

"Yes!" the young woman stood up and lowered her head without saying a word.

"I'll ask you first, your husband borrowed a thousand guan of money before his death. Do you know this?"

"The little woman didn't know at first, but later she found out that she borrowed a thousand guan when she cleaned up her husband's belongings."

"How much does your husband spend in total on buying a shop?"

"Reporting to the Lord of County Lord, the little woman didn't know at first, but later she found out that she had spent 4,000 guan of money to sort out the relics."

"How much money will your husband leave to you after his death?"

"It costs about 500 guan. It costs 200 guan to buy a cemetery to bury the husband. In fact, the young woman only costs 300 guan and has to raise children. Without the rent of this store, the young woman will not be able to live."

"What kind of business does your store do? How much does it cost per month?"

"The store opens a restaurant, and the monthly rent is 20 guan."

Li Yanqing nodded secretly. He could rent a small place like Jiayu for twenty cents, which means that the location of the store is very good. No wonder He Laoliu wanted this store.

Li Yanqing pondered for a moment and asked again: "I will ask you another private question: How old is your son? Are you planning to remarry?"

The young woman blushed and said for a while: "My son is only three years old. As for whether to remarry, it will be up to her parents' family to decide."

"Get out!"

The young woman gave her a blessing and followed the yamen runners to the east corridor to wait. At this time, Li Yanqing said to Fa Cao's Appointment: "You go and transfer the contract from that store, and then go and find the Zhuang Zhaiya who is trading in the middle. I have something to ask him."

Fa Cao got up, Li Yanqing left the house for the second time to rest, a tea boy came in and served them tea. Mo Jun smiled and said, "It seems that the county lord already knows how to judge this case."

Li Yanqing took a sip of tea, nodded and smiled, "Look at what Zhuang Zhaiyaren said?"

Not long after, the yamen runner came in to report, "Qi reported to the county lord, Zhuang Zhaiya has been brought here!"

After Li Yanqing finished drinking tea, he returned to the lobby.

Zhuang Zhaiyaren is a tall and thin man in his thirties. He bowed and said, "What's wrong with the county lord looking for a villain to pass the court?"

"What's your name? How many years have you been a Zhuang Zhaiyaren?"

"The villain is Jiang Wulang. He has been engaged in Zhuangzhaiya for nearly ten years and can rank among the top three among Zhuangzhaiya in this county."

Li Yanqing asked the yamen runners to hand him the contract and asked, "Is this transaction you are a clique?"

Jiang Wulang looked at it and nodded, "It was the villain who did it, and it was the one that happened last fall."

“What’s special about this house sale?”

Jiang Wulang thought for a while and said, "Everything is normal. It seems that the seller and the buyer have grown up together since childhood and have a very good relationship. Because the seller wants to go to the capital to make a living, he sold the store cheaply to Song Xiaoyi, and only sold it for 4,000 guan. Song Xiaoyi was eager to buy the store and did not hesitate to borrow money."

"Then how much do you think this store should be sold normally?"

"Its location is very good, just next to the Chenghuang Temple. It has been doing well for so many years. I think the normal price will be sold for 6,000 guan."

Li Yanqing nodded, "I asked you so much for the time being, don't leave, I'll have something to come to you later!"

"The villain dares not!" Jiang Wulang bowed and retreated.

At this time, Li Yanqing had fully understood that it was for borrowing in name but in fact it was a battle for real estate. Although the debtor died, it was reasonable that he would not have to pay back the money. The precedent judgment of the government did not have to pay back the money, but any case had its own special characteristics and could not copy the judgment of other government officials. In particular, the creditor believed in the borrower's credit and did not need to guarantee it. This kind of mutual trust behavior is worth promoting, so this case cannot only be biased towards the interests of the debtor, but also the interests of the creditor should be considered appropriately.

Thinking of this, Li Yanqing shouted: "Let the plaintiff, the defendant and the middleman all come to court!"

The plaintiff, the defendant and the middleman were all sitting in the corridor to rest. When they heard the call, several people walked into the lobby together and bowed, "See the county lord!"

Li Yanqing said slowly: "After a detailed investigation, I have probably understood the whole story and made a judgment. Now I will give you a choice. You can mediate yourself now, but I will not make a judgment. If you are unwilling to mediate and want to accept the judgment of your official, then once the judgment is completed, it must be executed. If one party does not accept it, then you will have to bear the full consequences. You have already thought about it."

He Laoliu discussed with the lawyer and bowed and said, "We are willing to accept the judgment!"

"What about you?" Li Yanqing looked at the young widow again.

The young widow said sadly: "Please make the decision for the little girl!"

Li Yanqing slapped the awkward, "Since that's the case, let me hear the verdict!"

=
Chapter completed!