when penal servitude, ordinarily redeemable by fine, will be inflicted. Again, in respect of the infliction of the capital penalty in these cases "the death penalty can only attach to the wife "after her paramour had killed her husband" 且必於姦夫殺其夫而後絞罪始 , and "cannot attach to her in anticipation "before her paramour had killed her mate" 不能於姦夫未殺其夫之先預坐 (H. A. H. L. vol. XXVIII. p. 13). Finally, a few words as regards the respective liability of the parties for offences committed by one or the other. A husband is usually to some extent liable for the offences of his wife; but his punishment is not heavy therefor the wife as a rule suffering principally. A wife may, in certain cases, be held partially liable for the offences of her husband; as in the case of treason by the latter, when, on his punishment, she will be punished also by being given as a slave to a meritorious official. Again if the husband be banished for an offence, though it is now in general optional with the offender whether his wife accompanies him or not, yet, in Mongolia, it is the rule that, if the offence, for which the man is banished, was participation in robbery and murder, or the taking of a principal part in robbery with violence, his wife also must be sent with him into service with the garrisons (H. A. H. L. vol. XVI. p. 28). SECTION IV OTHER NATURAL RELATIONSHIPS OTHER NATURAL RELATIONSHIPS Fathers and Mothers-in-law; Sons and Daughtersin-law. These relations are regarded with solicitude. So in the case of Mrs Li née Wang , a woman tired out with reaping, slipped and caused her father-in-law to hurt himself, and only as a special favour was allowed to pay a fine, in place of the penalty of one hundred blows and three years' transportation (H. A. H. L. Supp. vol. XI. p. 64). It is more serious to kill one's mother-in-law than to kill one's wife possibly wise provision : but, if the mother-in-law has led one's wife astray, or been a party to her desertion, the relationship between son-in-law and mother-in-law, and the consequences thereof, come thereby to an end. And so in the case of Li Hsiao-shêng, who tied his mother-in-law's hands behind her back, burned her with joss-sticks, and generally did her to death. In the first instance, Li was sentenced to decapitation, but, on its appearing that the mother-in-law had been a consenting party to the wife contracting a second connection, the finding was quashed (H. A. H. L. Vol. XL. p. 53). A mother-in-law must be careful about killing her daughter-in-law for it is considered worse than killing her own child; and she must be careful also as regards throwing the body into the river for it is considered worse than so treating the remains of her own child: though, so far as relationship is concerned, her offspring and a daughter-in-law stand on the same footing, yet the feeling is not the same (H. A. H. L. vol. XXI. p. 12). A father-in-law who, contrary to his own father's wish, beats to death or otherwise kills his son or daughter-in-law, and although for good cause, will not be supported by the law as in a case where a father-in-law beat his daughter-in-law to death for disobedience, contrary to his own father's injunction (H. A. H. L. Supp. vol. XI. p. 64). The tie existing between the father and mother-in-law and the wife does not cease to exist on the husband's death although the wife marries again; but it does cease to exist, if the parties are divorced (q. v.), and the wife takes another partner. Nor does the tie necessarily have no existence if the marriage was illegal provided that it was public, and contracted in ignorance of the law. Uncles and Aunts; Nephews and Nieces. These relations are regarded with solicitude, and the relationship is one of considerable weight. For a nephew or a niece to kill, or severely wound, an uncle or an aunt, is a capital offence: and this, whether the killing or the wounding be intentional, or accidental, or even morally justifiable. So to kill an uncle or an aunt in self-defence is a capital offence. In the case of Mrs Chou, an aunt in trying to strangle a niece in the dark, placed a finger in her intended victim's mouth. The niece, not knowing who it was, and imagining it was someone trying to ravish her, bit the finger off: erysipelas supervened, and the aunt died. For her offence, the niece was sentenced to strangulation without revision (H. A. H. L. Supp. vol. XI. p. 63). Even to merely severely wound an uncle or an aunt is a case for a capital sentence; and this though the act was done in defence of a parent but, in the latter event, the sentence will be nominal, and subject to commutation. Thus in the case of Ch'ang Hsiao-liu, a nephew crippled his uncle in the endeavour to prevent the latter from braining his father. The nephew was sentenced (but sentenced only) to strangulation (H. A. H. L. Supp. vol. XI. p. 56). An uncle or an aunt may, apparently, with some impunity, murder a nephew or a niece. So in the case of Hsia Sheng-pa BE, a brute who was threatened with legal proceedings murdered his young niece with the intention of charging his opponent with the act. The murderer |