Case of Fugitive Slaves Surrendering

Recorded in the Qin bamboo slips from Shuihudi, this case involves official slaves (li chen and li qie) who absconded from state service and later voluntarily surrendered themselves. Under the Qin legal code, escape by state-owned slaves was a serious offense. The legal question centered on whether their act of voluntary surrender should mitigate the prescribed punishment. The Qin authorities applied a specific statute that addressed fugitive slaves who returned on their own initiative. The case illustrates the pragmatic yet stringent approach of Qin law toward unfree laborers, balancing the need to deter escapes with an incentive structure encouraging runaways to return without expending state resources on capture.

The fugitive slaves were sentenced to fifty strokes of the cane (chi), a reduced punishment explicitly allowed for those who voluntarily surrendered, instead of the harsher penalties imposed on captured runaways.

Whether voluntary surrender by fugitive official slaves should result in mitigated punishment compared to those captured, and how the dual identity as both offender and state property affects sentencing under Qin law.

The case demonstrates an early codified leniency mechanism for self-surrender in Chinese legal history, showing that Qin law extended procedural incentives even to enslaved persons. It highlights the utilitarian character of Qin governance—using measured leniency to maintain control over labor forces—and provides crucial evidence for understanding the nuanced treatment of slaves in pre-imperial legal systems.