Chinese Emperor Hears a Case About Torn Paper Money
In 1384, the Hongwu Emperor of Ming China received a case involving a couple who had torn paper money during an argument. Destroying imperial currency was technically a crime that required a hundred bamboo strokes. The emperor reviewed the case personally — which itself says something about either the reach of Ming bureaucracy or the slowness of the appeals process — and decided to pardon them, ruling that their intention was an argument, not counterfeiting. The empire had been running for sixteen years. The emperor was still personally reading property dispute cases.
August 16, 1384
642 years ago
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