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This lecture examines how the Chosŏn State addressed the problem of private violence, focusing on adultery-related homicides. While the State criminalized adultery under legal codes, the law allowed a notable exception that justified private violence: if a husband killed his wife and her lover when caught in the act, he could be exempt from punishment. By the late eighteenth century, the exception was more broadly interpreted, extending leniency to other kin, such as sons and brothers-in-law, and loosening the requirement that the killing occur immediately at the scene. Did these developments reflect a weakening of state authority, or a different logic of governance? The lecture argues that they embodied the state’s effort to reconcile centralized legal authority with Confucian ideals of familial honor, thereby illuminating how Chosŏn Korea negotiated the boundary between public governance and private moral obligation.

Ha-kyoung Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Academy of Korean Studies. Her research investigates the intersections of law, authority, and governance in premodern Asia, with a particular emphasis on the legislative processes and legal practices of Chosŏn Korea (1392–1910). She is currently working on two projects: Confucian Moral Ethics, Moral Crimes, and the State in Chosŏn Korea (funded by the National Research Foundation, 2025-2027) and Koreans’ Legal Literacy: Its Historical Formation and Development (supported by the Institute for Legal Studies at Yonsei University, 2025-2031). Her recent publications include “Roles and Challenges of Legal Officials During King Chŏngjo’s Reign,” The Journal of Korean Studies (forthcoming in Vol. 31, no. 2, 2026). This lecture draws from her ongoing research as a Visiting Scholar at the Nam Center for Korean Studies, University of Michigan.

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