Marriage and the Law in the Age of Khubilai Khan by Bettine Birge

Marriage and the Law in the Age of Khubilai Khan by Bettine Birge

Regular price
Checking stock...
Regular price
Checking stock...
The feel-good place to buy books
  • Free UK delivery over £5
  • 20% off preloved books right now when you join +Plus
  • Buying preloved emits 46% less CO2 than new
  • Give your books a new home - sell them back to us!

Marriage and the Law in the Age of Khubilai Khan by Bettine Birge

These thirteenth-century legal cases from the classic compendium Yuan dianzhang reveal the complex, contradictory inner workings of the Mongol-Yuan legal system, as seen through the prism of divorce, adultery, rape, wife-selling, and other marital disputes. Bettine Birge offers a meticulously annotated translation and analysis.
[An] exciting addition to the scholarship on the Mongol Yuan empire…An indispensable source for both specialist and general readers who are interested in the social, legal, and gender history of the Mongol empire-- Daigengna Duoer * Religious Studies Review *
Birge has been working on Song and Yuan marriage law for more than two decades and is better qualified than anyone else to do the translation. This is a pleasure to read; she writes lucidly and gracefully. The subjects—law in China, marriage law, the Yuan period—are all ones that will draw readers to the work. Birge’s translation will be used not only by historians of China, but also by scholars and students interested in comparative law, social life and marriage, plus the Yuan dynasty and the Mongols more generally. -- Patricia Buckley Ebrey, author of Emperor Huizong
Based on painstaking research on legal decisions concerning marriage during the Yuan dynasty, this work illuminates the contradictions and difficulties the Mongols faced in attempting to develop a consistent approach to marital law. Birge’s descriptions of the Mongol government and the lawmaking process are informative, and her translations accurate and readable. The book offers many revealing insights, including that women instituted many of the legal cases, an indication that they were not as secluded or powerless as commonly thought. -- Morris Rossabi, author of Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times
Bettine Birge is Associate Professor at the University of Southern California in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures with a joint appointment in the Department of History.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780674975514
ISBN 10 0674975510
Title Marriage and the Law in the Age of Khubilai Khan
Author Bettine Birge
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Hardback
Publisher Harvard University Press
Year published 2017-07-24
Number of pages 336
Prizes Winner of J. Franklin Jameson Award 2019 (United States)
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.