GLOBAL CONTEXT

CASE 7:  Homicide and the Law in 18th Century China

As commercial and cultural contacts between China and the West increased during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, differing concepts of law increasingly came into conflict. The way this clash of cultures played itself out, however, would surprise most people today. Historians know that government in Europe was not always democratic and egalitarian—quite the opposite. As a result, early modern Europeans took strong exception to China’s principle of equal treatment under the law.

Early Modern Western Responses to Chinese Law

Modern Western Responses to Chinese Law

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