Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- 1 Sources on Early Chinese Law before the Yuelu Academy Finds -- 2 The Yuelu Academy Manuscript Collection -- 3 The Wei yu deng zhuang Manuscripts -- 4 The Wei yu deng zhuang in Comparison with the Zou yan shu from Zhangjiashan Tomb No. 247 -- 5 The Wei yu deng zhuang in Comparison with Other Legal Texts -- 6 Conclusions -- Notes on the Translation -- Case I.1 -- Case I.2 -- Case I.3 -- Case I.4 -- Case I.5 -- Case I.6 -- Case I.7 -- Case II.8 -- Case II.9 -- Case II.10 -- Case II.11 -- Case II.12 -- Case II.13 -- Case III.14 -- Case IV.15 -- Appendix I: Stages of Criminal Procedure as Reflected in Legal Manuscripts of the Qin and Early Han Period -- Appendix II: Qin Official Titles Mentioned in the Wei yu deng zhuang and/or the Qin Cases of the Zou yan shu -- Appendix III: Overview of the Wei yu deng zhuang Cases -- Appendix IV: Legal Terms Mentioned in the Wei yu deng zhuang -- Bibliography -- Index.

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In Legal Practice in the Formative Stages of the Chinese Empire , Ulrich Lau and Thies Staack offer a richly annotated English translation of the Wei yu deng zhuang si zhong 爲獄等狀四種, a collection of criminal case records from the pre-imperial state of Qin (dating from 246 BC–222 BC) that is part of the manuscripts in the possession of Yuelu Academy. Through an analysis of the collection and a comparison with similar manuscript finds from the Qin and Han periods, the authors shed new light on many aspects of the Qin administration of justice, e.g. criminal investigation, stages of criminal procedure, principles for determining punishment, and interaction of judicial officials on different administrative levels.

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