Yeongsan Magistrate Kim Ji-seok was growing weary of the constant stream of lawsuits.
Ever since that policy was implemented, governing this district seems to be getting harder by the day….
One day, His Majesty had suddenly emphasized the importance of national law and proclaimed that arbitrary judgments by local officials would be strictly prohibited to ensure no innocent person suffered injustice.
Was that the reason?
Since then, disputes had become more frequent even over trivial matters, and people constantly came forward claiming they had been wronged.
Of course, administering the district and resolving the grievances of the people was part of a magistrate’s duty, but the situation lately had become truly excessive.
Good grief. Coming all the way to the government office to argue over an egg debt and a rice debt.
In the past, such a thing would have been unimaginable. How dare they come before the magistrate and ask him to settle a dispute like this?
If it were up to him, he would have thrown them out immediately.
But according to rumor, a royal inspector would soon be arriving. With the possibility of an undercover inspector appearing at any time, he could not afford to ignore the matter.
At first glance, it seemed insignificant, but the reality was not so simple.
Their circumstances are rather unfortunate, after all.
To summarize the situation:
Eul-dori had once lent eggs to Gap-dori, but Gap-dori had never repaid them.
In the meantime, Gap-dori had lent rice to Eul-dori.
The problem was this:
When Gap-dori lent the rice, rice was cheap. Now, however, a poor harvest had driven prices up dramatically, and rice had become difficult to obtain.
The amount of rice Gap-dori had lent was enough to feed an entire family for several months. If he could not recover it, his family would immediately face starvation.
There is no choice. I must render a wise judgment.
The magistrate carefully considered the arguments. Both sides had valid points, making it extremely difficult to declare either one clearly in the right.
Still, no matter how I think about it, that fellow is irritating.
Gap-dori had committed an offense that particularly irritated Kim Ji-seok.
Namely, he had borrowed eggs from Eul-dori first and never repaid them.
How shameless. A man who has not even paid his own debt dares to claim he has been wronged.
Upon calm reflection, none of this would have happened if Gap-dori had simply repaid the eggs on time.
…Very well.
After much deliberation, Magistrate Kim was just about to conclude that Eul-dori’s argument was valid and that the two debts should be regarded as having canceled each other out.
Then—
“Looks like the issue is whether setoff applies?”
A young scholar suddenly spoke up from the side.
…What did he just say?
Magistrate Kim could not fully understand what those words meant, but the young man’s attitude as though the answer was obvious immediately rubbed him the wrong way.
One of the constables guarding the magistrate shouted in outrage.
“Who are you? How dare you open your mouth during an ongoing lawsuit!”
“M-My apologies! I just happened to know the answer, and it slipped out.”
Flustered, Do-yeol hurriedly apologized, but his explanation only irritated Magistrate Kim even further.
“…The rest of you, be quiet. You there. Are you saying you know how this matter should be decided?”
Do-yeol glanced around briefly before answering without hesitation.
“I do.”
Magistrate Kim looked at him suspiciously.
Is he preparing for the state law examination? Or perhaps a legal broker?… Though there shouldn’t be any of those in a place like this, far from the capital.
As he studied Do-yeol, Kim Ji-seok felt a strange sense of familiarity.
…Wait a moment. Now that I look at him, his face… He resembles that fellow quite a bit.
The memory of an old acquaintance surfaced for the first time in years, and his anger unconsciously eased.
Thud.
“M-My apologies! The young master misspoke!”
“Did I not tell you to stay quiet?”
Dong-gu, who accompanied Do-yeol, tried desperately to smooth things over, but it was no use.
“Then let me ask you. How should this case be resolved?”
“…Huh?”
“O-Oh no! This is bad!”
Criminal cases in Joseon had guiding legal texts such as the National Code and the Great Ming Code, but civil disputes were judged almost entirely according to the local magistrate’s discretion.
Thus, motivated partly by curiosity and partly by annoyance, Kim Ji-seok posed the question to Do-yeol.
You had better give me an answer that makes me forget your insolence.
For Do-yeol, however, the question was absurdly easy.
…What kind of historical drama asks about setoff?
Things had taken a rather bizarre turn the moment he arrived, but for now, solving the immediate problem came first.
Do-yeol let out a sigh.
He was just about to explain the matter by laying out the relevant statutes, legal principles, and case precedents in detail when—
His body suddenly froze.
…Wait a second. This is Joseon, isn’t it?
What good were statutes and precedents here?
Since the drama was set in Joseon, bringing them up would sound like complete nonsense.
Seeing Do-yeol suddenly go rigid, Dong-gu leaned in and whispered:
“Y-Young Master, this is a real disaster! But your loyal servant Dong-gu has a brilliant solution!”
So this man is my servant. A solution? There may not be a law of setoff here, but perhaps there’s a similar legal principle?
“…What is it?”
“First, pretend you’re sick and roll around on the ground. This Dong-gu will take care of the rest!”
In other words, escape the situation by acting ill and appealing to everyone’s sympathy.
…And this is supposed to be a solution? Unbelievable.
“Haah. Just be quiet and let me think.”
“Y-Young Master! A flogging hurts! If you spout nonsense, your backside’s going to be on fire!”
…I’ll just have to explain it in the simplest terms possible.
Ignoring him, Do-yeol calmly gathered his thoughts.
Some people believed that law was merely the study of memorizing statutes.
But law was not a discipline of memorization.
Keep it concise.
Law was—
The study of drawing out the true meaning behind legal rules and learning how to think like a legal professional.
…And make it clear.
If one understood the underlying principles, then they could be applied in countless different situations.
That was what it meant to have a legal mind.
The real question was whether the magistrate would accept such an approach.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Do-yeol decided to trust himself.
I’ve never tried explaining it this way before, but…
As expected, the issue of setoff was a modern legal concept.
Civil Act, Article 492, Paragraph 1. Requirements for setoff.
“When two parties owe obligations of the same kind to each other, and the time for performance of both obligations has arrived, either party may set off their obligation against the other up to the amount of the corresponding obligation. However, this shall not apply where the nature of the obligation does not permit setoff.”
The wording was complicated, but the concept itself was simple.
When two people owed debts to each other, they could cancel them out against one another.
That was setoff.
Viewed through the lens of modern law, Eul-dori’s argument amounted to:
“I wish to set off my egg claim against my rice debt!”
The issue is straightforward.
There was no need to overcomplicate it. Of the requirements for setoff, the relevant question here was whether the obligations were of the same kind.
In other words, were eggs and rice the same type of obligation?
If they were, setoff would be possible.
If they were not, it would not.
And Do-yeol’s conclusion was clear.
“Gap-dori’s position is correct. The two debts should not be offset against one another.”
“Yes!”
“What nonsense is that?!”
The reactions of the two farmers immediately diverged.
Do-yeol believed this was not a situation in which setoff could apply.
Magistrate Kim frowned.
“And why do you think that?”
“If both parties had lent the same thing to one another, there would never have been a dispute in the first place.”
The magistrate fell silent for a moment.
The scholar’s words made sense.
If the two men had borrowed and lent identical goods, there would have been no need to argue over the matter.
“…True enough.”
“If one follows that logic to its conclusion, it becomes clear that for two debts to be combined and extinguished, they must necessarily be of the same kind.”
The magistrate slowly nodded.
“Rice and eggs are obviously different things. But is that alone enough reason to say the debts cannot be canceled out? If both can be sold in the marketplace for roughly the same value, does Eul-dori not have a point?”
“Exactly!”
Do-yeol blinked in surprise.
…That’s actually a pretty sharp question.
If one approached the requirements for setoff mechanically, it was only natural for such a challenge to arise.
– The debts have to be of the same kind for setoff to apply? Why? Isn’t that simply because the law says so?
However, one legal scholar once described law as refined common sense.
In other words, if one understood the principles behind the law, one could infer the reasoning and common sense that supported it.
“Your Honor is correct. If we consider efficiency alone, then that would indeed be the result.”
“Are you admitting that you were wrong?”
“No. When different values are at stake, should we not consider which value ought to take precedence?”
It was efficient, certainly.
But efficiency was not the end of the discussion.
“…What do you mean by that?”
“I would like to ask three questions. First: Why do the people borrow food in the first place?”
“Because they have nothing to eat at the moment.”
“Second: Why do you believe Eul-dori’s position is correct?”
“Because it is efficient! They would not have to go through the trouble of buying and selling things separately to settle their debts!”
The magistrate’s reasoning was not wrong in principle.
After all, setoff existed precisely because it promoted efficiency.
But among competing values, efficiency could not always be said to be the most important.
With a calm expression, Do-yeol asked his final question.
“…Lastly, between the safety of the people and efficiency, which do you consider more important?”
Only then did Magistrate Kim sense that something was unusual.
“Why, naturally… the safety of the people.”
“That is precisely why debts involving different goods cannot simply be canceled against one another.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Today the dispute concerns rice and eggs. But if we permit it merely because it is efficient, then much greater dangers will arise.”
The magistrate had indeed thought Eul-dori’s argument made sense.
Yet there had always been something unsettling about it, which was why he could not ignore Do-yeol’s words.
“…Explain yourself.”
“If a person who borrows rice is allowed to repay it with some entirely different item, then what about straw sandals? Or a walking stick? The lender expected to receive rice in return. Would it not cause hardship if he instead received something he could not eat?”
“……”
“Furthermore, when the rice was originally lent out, the agreement was that rice would be returned for rice. If receiving different goods were permitted…”
Do-yeol recalled one of the most fundamental principles of law.
Pacta sunt servanda.
Agreements must be kept.
“Then the people would lose faith in one another, and trust would disappear. Is there any problem greater than that? Unless there are extraordinary circumstances, a promise must be kept.”
The law of setoff exists to pursue efficiency while preserving transactional security and protecting trust.
But to sacrifice trust merely because something is efficient?
That’s absurd.
Eggs were food, certainly, but they were no substitute for rice.
In a choice between efficiency on one side and public security and good faith on the other, the answer was obvious.
Magistrate Kim was nearly convinced by Do-yeol’s reasoning, but he raised one final objection.
“Even so… should we not take into account Gap-dori’s failure to repay the eggs?”
“Indeed we should. However, responsibility for that wrongdoing should be imposed directly for his failure to repay the eggs. It is not reasonable to permit the debts to be canceled merely because we find his conduct aggravating. Therefore, the debts should not be offset against one another and…”
Boom!
“…each matter should be judged separately.”
“Hoho….”
At first, Kim Ji-seok had only intended to teach an insolent young scholar a lesson.
Now, however, he found himself thoroughly impressed.
This young man possesses talent enough to justify his confidence!
“‘A promise must be kept,’ you say… Hoho! You are absolutely right. Your intelligence is no ordinary thing. Excellent!”
Nodding with obvious satisfaction, Kim Ji-seok straightened his posture and spoke in a solemn voice.
“I hereby render judgment! The plaintiff’s claim that the two debts cannot be offset against one another is correct! However, the plaintiff Gap-dori shall repay the eggs to the defendant as soon as possible, together with interest!”
“…Understood!”
“…Yes, sir!”
After hearing Do-yeol’s reasoning, both Gap-dori and Eul-dori were so overwhelmed by the logic that neither dared object.
“And furthermore…”
The magistrate turned toward Do-yeol and smiled.
“You will remain behind and speak with me for a moment.”
“…Huh?”
Kim Ji-seok had served in this district for many years and believed he had already identified every promising young talent worth noticing.
Yet somehow…
An exceptionally brilliant young man had suddenly appeared right before his eyes.
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