's love is a prostitute in Bohemia, and he has never understood what the law is.
--Georges Bizet's four-act opera Carmen "
Whoever you think I am, do you love me?": The first story
The story takes place in Hyesan, a village in the American South in the 1870s, which has just After the looting of the civil war, only the old and the weak and the scorched land were left. A bleak man in rags, hobbled into the lifeless village, called out the name of every man he saw, and when anyone could not remember, he recounted the scandalous deeds that man had done as a child. The villagers were pleasantly surprised to recognize that he was the Shen Zeke who was captured by the Yankees six years ago. Before the civil war, he was a well-known local wealthy household. Everyone crowded him back to the house where he had been away for many years. Bai Nara, his beautiful wife who had been a widow for many years, ran home early when he got the news, and was dressed up at the door. Thank God! The villagers excitedly blessed Zeke who survived the disaster.
From the very beginning, Nora never believed that this warm man who fell from the sky was the violent husband from before, but Shen Zeke, who returned, clearly remembered the white shirt that Nora sewed by herself when she was newly married, and his wise words and romance His demeanor slowly melted Nora's long-frozen heart. The two of them had a good relationship with Xiuyan, and they kept their hearts to each other every night.
In order to help the villagers get rid of poverty and become rich, Zeke, a shrewd and courageous person, persuaded the villagers to sell goods to raise funds and plant a large number of tobacco leaves in the fields. The whole village stalks the road with blue threads to open up the mountains and forests. Only Ao Nian, a young priest with wooden legs caused by the civil war, held a grudge against Shen Zeke. Because he has been taking care of and adoring Nora for many years, and Shen Zeke's sudden return home destroyed his sweet vision. By chance, Ao Nian finally found out that the man was not the real "Shen Zeke", but a habitual swindler in a foreign land. His real name was Tang Haoli.
At the same time, the story also took a dramatic turn. A trial accusing Shen Zeke of being the murderer became a stage for testing everyone in the story. Nora, who had fallen in love with this man hopelessly, accepted the methods and conditions proposed by Ao Nian, insisting that he was not Shen Zeke (which she also faintly realized) to help him clear his name. So the court first judged whether the man from Huishan was the real Shen Zeke. Tang Haoli, who was also hopelessly in love with Nora's fake husband, would rather take Shen Zeke's death by hanging than admit that he was a fake and get away with it. In a courtroom where only two people understood its true meaning, Tang Haori deftly rebuked witnesses who claimed he was a fake Zeke, and softly persuaded the tearful Nora to admit him. In the end, the judge announced that he was convicted of murder and Shen Zeke was hanged.
In the prison, Nora shook the man's arm: "I know you are not Shen Zeke." But he kept insisting: "I am Shen Zeke, Tang Haoli killed someone and died." She cried again and begged him to confess the truth. identity, escape the death penalty. Tang Haoli said affectionately: "It doesn't matter who you think I am, do you love me?" Now that he has finished, what can he say. The poor woman with tears rolling down her heart was heartbroken. In the end, tremblingly, she put on the white wedding shirt for him, watching her husband "Shen Zeke", who belonged to her alone, being pulled to the gallows.
Tang Haoli, who was wearing a noose, finally found her beloved wife in the crowd, and her heart that was terrified of death was peaceful because of this.
Lawyer's Cruel Scalpel The story in the
last section comes from a sad movie that is common in Hollywood. The Chinese translation is called "Like an Old Man Come", and the male and female protagonists are the famous Richard Gere and Jodie Foster. No wonder! If it weren't for these two acting and idol superstars, who could interpret the story of stealing a friend's wife and stealing a wild man so much. Readers must hate and scold this assessment, but this coldness is necessary. In the eyes of a lawyer, any beautiful and moving story must be reduced to the most basic legal facts. Tang Haoli and Shen Zeke were friends in adversity, Shen Zeke died, Tang Haoli did not inform him of his death, but instead took advantage of his resemblance to Shen Zeke to occupy his fertile land and family. Miss Bai Nara was dubious at first and later fully recognized Tang Haoli's mask, but she always cohabited with a strange man. Both of them were subjectively "intentional" in the law.
Tang Haoli first used other people's names to infringe on others' right to name; then he illegally obtained Shen Zeke's property by deception and violated his property rights; at the same time, Tang Haoli returned home in Shen Zeke's name and had sex with Shen Zeke's legal wife, Bai Nara , violated Miss Bai Nara's right to freedom of sexual life. Looking at Bai Nara again, after she knew for sure that her husband was an impostor, but before she knew that her real husband was dead, deliberately having illegitimate sexual relations with another man was undoubtedly adultery. In the southern United States at that time, the society generally believed in Christianity, and adultery was also regarded as one of the crimes. Just think about Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. In fact, the most tragic thing in the film is Ao Nian, who lost the cherry to his lips. He was sincerely in love with Nora, and even when her life was the most difficult, he watched over her and loved her. Some people will say that the last true love of Nora is Tang Haoli rather than Ao Nian. But since she has been accepting Ao Nian's help, she can't say that she has no feelings for him. And Nora fell in love with Tang Haoli later, but from the very beginning, Tang Haoli stood in the position of Nora's husband without a doubt, so he and Ao Nian's starting line for pursuing Nora were not equal, and this The advantage of "husband" status was obtained illegally by Tang Haoli. Let's try to imagine what the story would be like if Ao Nian also used illegal means to occupy Nora. You can't be unfair enough to call a suitor stupid for being kind.
The script of this movie is excellent. The director killed or drove away everyone who might cause trouble. Ao Nian ran away out of shame. If Ao Nian still stayed and relentlessly testified that Shen Zeke was false, How should it be? Shen Zeke was seriously injured and died. If he didn't die, what would he do when he returned to the village? Even if Shen Zeke died, if Tang Haoli was not hanged, how would he and Nora live in the future?
"No matter how fast the thief is, he can't escape the punishment of lameness": the second story
If reader thinks that the author is a law student, and why does he love to pick nits in eggs, then the author will find the original version of this movie for you Look, this is a real case that happened in the south of France in the 16th century, and it has been verified by historians in many ways:
In 1538, in a small village in the Liege Valley in southern France, the 14-year-old only son of the Basque Gael, Mardan, married a 12-year-old girl from a wealthy family, Bertrand, and gave birth to a son. Later, for some unknown reason, Ma Dan actually stole a sack of wheat from his father and absconded with the crime for eight years. The heartbroken old Gael and his wife forgave Ma Dan on their deathbed, leaving all their family property to him, and entrusting their uncle Pierre to keep them safe. In the summer of 1556, a guest who claimed to be Ma Dan came to the village, and Ma Dan's four sisters hurriedly pushed Bertrand to recognize him. At first she didn't dare to recognize it, but Xin Ma Dan was very affectionate, and she still remembered the white pants hidden at the bottom of the wardrobe - their token. She finally hangs him by the neck.
Ma Dan is worthy of seeing the world, and soon began to buy and sell fields for a living, and even brought his uncle to court to get back the inheritance left by his father. Pierre has since identified Madan as an impostor. Later, he finally found evidence: a passing soldier said that Zhen Ma Dan was broken by an arquebus, and now he is walking on wooden legs, and then someone at the hotel called Xin Ma Dan Arno, nicknamed "Big Belly" ". So Pierre went to the court and lied that he was Bertrand's guardian, issued an arrest warrant to arrest New Madan, and forced Bertrand to be the plaintiff in an additional civil lawsuit. The case was full of doubts, and was finally transferred to the Criminal Division of the Tulu City Court, where the trial was presided over by Justice Dr. New Madan was very calm and refuted Pierre's witnesses one by one. Bertrand also gave it all kinds of proof. Just when the court was about to release the defendant due to insufficient evidence and investigate Pierre's false accusation, a wooden-legged man broke into the court. After being arraigned in isolation, testifying in court, and testifying against relatives and friends, the truth finally came to light: Xin Ma Dan was hanged and his corpse burned.
This story has always been one of the interesting koans in Western historians. There are numerous books devoted to the case, such as the "Biography of Ma Dan" by Lawyer Le Silre, Causes celebres et interessantes by Gayot de Pitaval, the Wife of Martin Guerre by Janet Lewis, and even two pages of the then Justice Dr. The "Judgment" written in French was also handed down to later generations. Arnold-Tan Hauri is an immortal liar in this sense! The most detailed narration of this story comes from Natalie Davis' masterpiece of historical research at Princeton University - "Ma Dan Returns Home". These materials are all from a legal essay "Wooden Leg Justice" written by Dr. Feng Xiang from the Law School of the University of Hong Kong. The story is basically copied from the original text. One of the reasons is that Feng Xiang's article is really well written, and the second is to improve the The credibility of "anecdotal evidence". (Borrowing the terminology in criminal evidence law, that is, indirect evidence obtained by copying, paraphrasing, etc., the fewer links are copied and paraphrased, the higher the credibility)
The story of "Ma Dan Returning Home" is similar to the previous one. The most acute challenge the film presents is this: the real Shen Zeke has returned home. Justice is long overdue with a wooden leg, but at this time, no matter how sad and ecstatic love legends are, they must face this tough wooden leg. Feng Xiang commented with emotion: "In a word, although the new family created by Arnault and Bertrand is voluntary and supported by love, they are ultimately guilty, contrary to ethics and justice, and will inevitably become Tragedy." The
poet's wings and the wooden legs of justice
No matter how many twists and turns the story takes, no matter how staggering the wooden legs are, justice will eventually follow. The wooden-legged man in "Ma Dan Returns Home" is portrayed in the film as always pursuing Nora, and later instigates others to testify that Tang Haori is the fake Zeke's Ao Nian. The film Leo Nian is leaning on a wooden leg. And besides Bai Nara and Tang Haoli, only Ao Nian knew that Shen Zeke was fake, so he was the only one who guarded the wooden leg and "justice". To put it more abstractly, Ao Nian and the wooden leg symbolize Bai Nara’s legal marriage and the predictability of the system. Such a promise is likely to comply with the local laws on the declaration of death and the dissolution of marriages. Of course, Ao Nian is the one who maintains this law the most.) The sweet and sweet life of Tang Haori and Bai Nara symbolizes the transcendence of all judgments of good and evil, true and false, right and wrong. of love. Therefore, when the court tried Shen Zeke to be true or false in the film, it was also a trial of the dispute over which of love and marriage should be prioritized.
Poets are always flying in the sky, pursuing freedom and inspiration, and love is the pinnacle of freedom and the torch of inspiration. How can there be any reason to give up? Thus, since the Age of Enlightenment, people believed that "marriage without love is immoral marriage", "love is the foundation of marriage", "the criterion for dissolution of marriage (divorce) should also be a broken relationship. (Lovebirds fly away) (This is also the legal standard for divorce in the current Chinese "Marriage Law") But, dear readers, they can be poets Fei Yifei, we ordinary people can only obediently work in the fields all day, earn money to support themselves and support themselves family. If everyone is flying around all day, you have to be careful, maybe one day your wife will leave you and the children behind, "the ex-wife has already taken the yellow crane, and there is a vacant tube tower here". If the whole society is full of "flying people", why are you still married? What are you doing to support your wife and children? Therefore, the marriage system itself is a stone, which heavily ties the feet of two people to prevent the kite from flying too high or too far, not to mention breaking the line. The responsibility of marriage arises from the weight of life, not from love. Nowadays, few people still believe in the eternal costume love. Of course, these words do not include those poets, and lawyers have always ignored poets when discussing issues. (Poets have their own code of ethics, and they are often otherworldly and do their own way, while lawyers think most about ordinary people like you and me.) After all, marriage is like a contract. What is the contract for? It is to constrain the parties not to breach the contract without reason, and it actually guarantees a kind of predictability: I believe that my bride today is still my wife when she wakes up after a night of sleep, and even if she wants to change her mind, she must let me know first. And this marriage book was originally designed to set up some obstacles for the person who changed his mind, so that he/she would not "I am a hooligan and who am I afraid of".
Here is an assumption made by the lawyers: people sometimes have a mess of passion, not only deceiving others, but also deceiving themselves. Many successful men in their 40s and successful women in their 30s start to think about the opposite sex other than their husbands and wives once they become a little self-inflated. The passion does exist, but its foundations are really shaky. Many people who have divorced and remarried have found that "the one" was more appropriate. So some people simply "too lazy to divorce". What is the reason? "Full of self-efficacy" also. So from this we can see the wonderful thing about the system of marriage. It sets up shackles for you, reminding you that this one has three lives and three lives, and only one scoop has been taken. At the same time, it also reassures you, so that you will no longer suspect that you are sleeping in the same marriage bed, only one night later, you His sweet wife has become someone else's "clumsy thorn".
Going back to the movie, Tang Haoli presented three points to Nora in court: First, if I admit to being a fake, the signature "Shen Zeke" on the mortgage registration of the Huishan villagers will be invalid, and the villagers' hard work will become "Bamboo Bamboo". Second, if I admit to being a fake, our children will become wild breeds and will always be discriminated against; third, if I admit to being fake, you will become a bad woman who shares a bed with a wild man, even if I If we go back alive, we will not be able to live. Tang Haoli is worthy of being a habitual liar, and he speaks directly to people's hearts. He also used the logic of the author above: to maintain the predictability of the system, so that people can obtain the expected results. Although he never thought that he had destroyed the expectations of the system established before his arrival, but after all, the real Shen Zeke is dead, and no one will find the lost past again. Ao Nian heard Tang Haoli's words in the courtroom, saw Nora's sad but tender eyes, and quietly exited the courtroom. It is a wonderful metaphor for justice to quietly retreat in order to maintain this newly established expectation. The civil war in the United States has been fought for so many years, and the lives and production of people in the north and south have suffered heavy losses. All existing legal relations have been almost completely destroyed. Children have died of their parents, wives have died of husbands, and lenders have died of borrowers. Life is like a pile of broken glass, and the survivors who are not necessarily lucky have to rebuild it piece by piece. "Davis went deep into the Liege Valley to collect and investigate a large number of sixteenth-century marriage contracts, wills, land sales contracts, church and court files, trying to get as close to the life and mentality of the parties as possible. The social status and economic interests of a married woman take the initiative to accept the new Ma Dan and build a new life and a new identity with him." ("Wooden Leg Justice") In "Like an Old Man Come", Nora admitted to Tang Haoli: " I don't deny that I take care of work, life, and children, because of these I need a man." I heard that after the Korean War, because a large number of North Korean men died in battle, there was a time when a man could marry up to twelve wives, I think that There will never be one of the twelve wives without Bea Nora. Behind the funny anecdote is often heart-wrenching grief. Putting herself in Nora's shoes, there is a man she loves, and I think she should at least be sympathetic and understanding with her through those difficult years. Readers are going to ask why you didn't come here with your ruthless tort law anatomy? Because problems are never as simple as legal logic. The above use of legal axe to cut down Tang and Bai wantonly, but only from one perspective. A lawyer wouldn't be like the dealer in the horror novel "Cards of Death" who doesn't hesitate to crash whoever draws the king of spades. The law is by no means the name of an eternal god, it seeks justice for a time and place. when hungry
The wooden legs of justice retire in line with justice, and the sad Ao Nian had to lick his grief alone.
"If you hug me, you will always hug me in the days to come." A
lawyer has a unique way of thinking about a problem. He tries his best to avoid passionate and moral understanding, but pays attention to those common and popular proverbs passed down by word of mouth. , and the common sense contained in it. He tries his best to think about a problem with two or more heads in order to prevent himself from falling into prejudice and dogmatism. So my analysis in this section is different from the previous section. These conclusions look very different, but the way of thinking is the same.
Watching that video again, Tang Haoli and Bai Nara were alone in prison before going to the sentence. Nora persuaded him to admit that he was a fake Zeke and escape the death penalty. I'm not leaving you." He repeated that he loved her and that he was going to hug Nora as a final goodbye. Nora stepped back to avoid him and shouted in his face, "If you hold me, you will hold me forever in the days to come. If you love me, show the proof."
Nora, pure and lovely Nora, she asks questions that we cannot avoid. Tang Haoli fired his defense lawyer in court, and induced the witnesses who testified against him to speak contempt of court. He admits that he is Zhenzek with red eyes, and his calm and unrestrained manner in court is like the "dream team" of American lawyers who defended Simpson in the late twentieth century, but why did he simply win this without his eloquence? What about a lawsuit? After all, the only direct witness in this murder case was an old man who admitted that he saw Shen Zeke kill him in the dim light of the tavern. Moreover, since the old man kept saying that Tang Haoli in court was the Shen Zeke of the day, then it is conceivable to see There must be many contradictions in his testimony. Even a fledgling lawyer is sure to win this defense. Why is Tang Haoli, the king of a thousand kings, silent and willing to die? There is a saying that the most beautiful things in life are like immortals and want to die. Does Tang Haoli believe that the most beautiful moments of his life have been realized one by one, and that it is enough to die?
I think the answer should be that he clearly understands that passion will not stand up to the passing of years, even if his passionate love with Bai Nara lasts for another ten years, what about ten years later? Ten years later, things are going wrong, and there are occasional quarrels between husband and wife, and old accounts are repeated. Will Bai Nara also feel sorry for Shen Zeke, who has been dead for many years? After all, she said to "Shen Zeke" (she still thought Tang Haoli was Shen Zeke) in the film: "I didn't marry you because of your money." Is the surname of the daughter born by Tang Haoli and Bai Nara is Shen or not? Don? Will Tang Haoli treat his daughter the same as the son left by Shen Zeke? Readers will say that people in law are really rude to ask these unsightly questions. But I have already expressed this meaning above: sentiment is a luxury for aristocratic poets, not a meal for laid-off workers.
Also, there are the people of Hyesan, who have always insisted in court that Tang Haori is the real Shen Zeke, because "people always believe what they think will happen." And people thank "Shen Zeke" for bringing them prosperity, (or People are afraid that after Tang Haoli confesses, the mortgage registration signature will be invalidated, which will damage their interests.) What about ten years later? After ten years of contact, it is impossible for the fake couple to be suspicious. (The shoe size of Tang Haoli in the movie does not match Shen Zeke's, and he does not know Shen Zeke's childhood playmate Sherhamton.) At that time, the mortgage contract had already expired. There is some friction, and the villagers will no longer worry about signing autographs, and will they point at Tang, Bai and their children behind their backs? My God, how was this family supposed to live in Hyesan then? Davies did a lot of research in the Liege Valley when he wrote "Madan Returns Home", and put forward a historical hypothesis: If Arnault did not fight for inheritance with Pierre, and the two coexisted peacefully, would the deception be exposed? He took this question to the peasants in the small village, and they laughed: "That silly boy can do it, but he lied." Feng Xiang commented: "Xin Ma Dan must be a real husband, and he will go to his wife's marriage bed every night. It made the suspicious villagers unbearable. . . . The panic went on and on. Fake couples must not be honest in their hearts. Sooner or later, suspicious deeds will leak out, which will affect the relationship between relatives and social relations. "
How can you live forever in the arms of a liar, our lovely Nora? Lu Xun asked soberly and ruthlessly in the noise of a group of people who advocated a new culture of freedom at the beginning of this century: What will happen to Nora after she leaves? (Lu Xun's heroine has the same name as our heroine!) In real life, this is often the case. When many people think they have won, the problem has just begun.
Who can tell me how long the most romantic passion in the world can last? Rather than tormenting the two of them for life in lies, it is better to simply die after being addicted to it. well! You can't accept it, Tang Haoli died so post-modern (black humor). He is indeed an immortal liar! On the other hand, my law reviews may be rotten before readers can read them.
Original address: http://justice.fyfz.cn/blog/justice/index.aspx?blogid=11250
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