Original Text
In Taiyuan there was a household where both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were widows. The mother-in-law, being middle-aged, could not maintain her chastity, and a village scoundrel often came to consort with her. The daughter-in-law, displeased by her mother-in-law's conduct, secretly blocked the scoundrel from entering the house at the door and along the walls. Ashamed, the mother-in-law found an excuse to drive the daughter-in-law out. The daughter-in-law refused to leave, and the two argued. Growing more enraged, the mother-in-law falsely accused the daughter-in-law of adultery and brought the case to the magistrate. The magistrate asked for the name of the adulterer, and the mother-in-law said, "He came by night and left by night, so I truly do not know who he was. Summon my daughter-in-law for interrogation, and the truth will be known." Thus the daughter-in-law was brought to court. She naturally knew who the adulterer was, but she shifted the blame to her mother-in-law and stubbornly refused to confess to adultery. The magistrate then arrested the scoundrel, who cunningly argued, "I have had illicit relations with neither of them. It is their mutual discord that has led them to fabricate these lies to slander each other." The magistrate said, "In a village of a hundred people, why would they single you out for false accusation?" He then ordered the scoundrel to be severely beaten. The scoundrel hastily kowtowed, begging for pardon, and confessed to adultery with the daughter-in-law. The magistrate then tortured the daughter-in-law, but she still refused to admit guilt, so the magistrate allowed the mother-in-law to expel her. Furious, the daughter-in-law appealed to the provincial authorities, but the case remained unresolved for a long time, just as it had at the county level.
At this time, Jin Shi Sun Liuxia of Zichuan was serving as the magistrate of Linjin County, and everyone acknowledged him as a master of adjudication, so the provincial authorities referred this case to Linjin County for trial. When the group of accused was brought in, Magistrate Sun briefly questioned them and then ordered them to be imprisoned. Subsequently, he instructed the yamen runners to prepare bricks, stones, knives, and awls, to be ready for use at dawn. Everyone was puzzled, saying, "If severe punishment is needed, there are naturally plenty of instruments of torture; why use these non-torture items to try a case?" Though they did not understand his intent, they prepared them nonetheless. The next day, Magistrate Sun ascended the hall and, upon confirming that the bricks, stones, knives, and awls were ready, ordered them brought before the court. Then he summoned the accused and briefly interrogated each one again. Magistrate Sun then said to the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, "This matter does not require too thorough an investigation. Though the adulteress has not yet been identified, the adulterer is undoubtedly certain. Your family was originally pure and upright, merely led astray by a scoundrel for a time; the guilt rests entirely on him. Here on the court are knives and stones; you may take them yourselves and kill him." Hearing this, the two women hesitated, fearing that if they killed him, they would have to pay with their lives. Magistrate Sun said, "Do not worry; I am here." So the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law rose together, picked up stones, and hurled them at the rogue. The daughter-in-law, nursing a long-held hatred, lifted a large stone with both hands, eager to kill him with one blow; but the mother-in-law only struck the rogue's buttocks and legs with small pebbles. Magistrate Sun ordered them to use the knives; the daughter-in-law grasped a knife and stabbed at the rogue's chest, while the mother-in-law shrank back, unwilling to act. Seeing this, Magistrate Sun stopped them and said, "I already know who the adulteress is." He ordered the mother-in-law to be seized and subjected to severe torture, thereby uncovering the truth of the case. He then gave the rogue thirty strokes of the bamboo, and thus the case was concluded.
Supplementary Record: One day, Lord Sun dispatched a runner to collect rent, but the tenant was away from home, and only his wife came to answer the door. Because the runner received no bribe, he seized the woman and brought her to the yamen. Lord Sun said angrily, "Her husband will surely return one day—how can you harass his family like this?" He then ordered the runner to be flogged and sent the woman home. He also commanded the artisans to prepare plenty of manacles for use in rent collection. The next day, the entire county praised Lord Sun as a benevolent magistrate. When those who owed rent heard of this, they all sent their wives to answer the door, and Lord Sun had them all arrested and put in manacles. I once remarked: Lord Sun was not lacking in wisdom, but he waited until he had ascertained the true circumstances before showing no mercy or pity to those who broke the law.
Commentary
According to the principles of modern civil litigation, although it is logically consistent to infer the identity of the adulterer in this case based on human sentiment and physical reasoning, it lacks evidentiary rigor. First, to catch a thief, one must catch the stolen goods; to catch an adulterer, one must catch the pair in the act. Since it was impossible to determine before this whether the mother-in-law or the daughter-in-law was guilty of adultery, the rogue could only be considered a suspect, not conclusively identified as the adulterer—even if he were truly the adulterer, the testing procedure of "the court has knives and stones at hand; you may take them and strike him dead" could not be employed. Second, this testing method could only serve as a basis for inference, not as evidence for conviction. For a party involved in an extramarital affair, in order to evade punishment, might entirely adopt behaviors contrary to common sense and reason to avoid detection. Thus, the final conviction in this case still relied on the old path of torture: "they subjected the mother-in-law to severe beating, and thus obtained the truth of the matter."