Manslaughter, Markets, and Moral Economy: Violent Disputes over Property Rights in Eighteenth-Century China

Description

Thomas Buoye examines the impact of large-scale economic change on social conflict in eighteenth-century China. He draws on a large number of documented cases of violent property disputes to recreate the social tensions fostered by the development of property rights, an unprecedented growing population, and the increasing strain on land and resources. This book challenges the "markets" and "moral economy" theories of economic behavior. Applying the theories of Douglass North for the first time to this subject, Buoye uses an institutional framework to understand seemingly irrational economic choices.

'This carefully researched and well-crafted book illuminates struggles over land and water in eighteenth-century Guangdong, as well as the nature of the legal process in the high Qing period.' Journal of Asian Studies