Abstract This study reexamines the roles and challenges of legal officials within the judicial system during the reign of King Chŏngjo (r. 1776–1800). Despite their minor status in the bureaucratic hierarchy, legal officials played a crucial role as intermediaries in applying the law, including interpreting statutes, drafting legal documents, and offering advice on judicial matters. However, their specific duties and responsibilities within the judicial system have been largely unexplored. To address this gap, this study focuses on King Chŏngjo’s reign, which provides a particularly rich body of judicial records concerning legal officials. Among these are twenty-seven documented cases in which legal officials were disciplined for failing to fulfill their duties. These cases offer a unique opportunity to examine the expectations placed on legal officials and the specific roles they were required to perform. By analyzing the legal regulations outlining the status and responsibilities of legal officials, as well as the twenty-seven cases in which they faced severe punishment for inadequate performance, this paper brings the overlooked presence of legal officials to the forefront of legal history research.
Ha-kyoung Lee (Sun,) studied this question.