port of sick, infirm or aged persons, and to persons over seventy or not more than fifteen years of age.
Timely confession; the restoration of stolen goods, or assistance in bringing accomplices to justice, always secure to the offender a mitigation of punishment and, in many cases, a full pardon.
Children under seven years of age and accused persons over ninety are deemed incapable of committing any crimes but those of rebellion and high treason.
The crimes most severely punished are those known as the "Ten Abominations," viz.: rebellion, disloyalty, desertion, parricide, massacre, sacrilege, impiety, discord in families, insubordination, and incest. These crimes, when the offense is capital, are excepted from the benefit of privilege or any act of general pardon "in order that people may learn to dread and avoid the same."
High treason is defined by the Code as "an unspeakable outrage and attempt to violate the divine order of things on earth." It is committed by any attempt to subvert the established government; to destroy or injure the person of the sovereign, the palace in which he resides, the temple in which his family is worshipped, or the tombs in which the remains of his ancestors are deposited. The punishment inflicted on traitors is extremely barbarous. All persons convicted of having been principals or accessories to any act of treason suffer death by a slow and painful execution. More over, all male relations in the first degree at or above the age of sixteen, without any regard to place of residence, are indiscriminately beheaded. The remaining male children, if proved to be totally innocent of and unacquainted with the commission of the offense, are suffered to live, but rendered eunuchs that they may be employed for the public service in the exterior buildings of the palace. Female relations in the first degree are distributed as slaves to the great officers of the state, and the property of every description belonging to such treason able offenders is confiscated for the use of the government.
Parricide is considered only one degree less culpable than treason, and is punished as a crime of the deepest dye; such a violation of the ties of nature being held to be evidence of the most unprincipled depravity. Any person convicted of a design to kill his or her parents or ancestors, whether a blow be struck or not, is liable to suffer death by being beheaded. If the murder is actually committed, all the parties concerned therein, whether principals or accessories, if related to the deceased as above mentioned, suffer death in a slow and painful manner, being cut into a thousand pieces. If the criminal dies in prison an execution similar in mode takes place on his body.
Murder, in all cases, is punished by decapitation. When committed with the design of afterwards mangling the body and distributing the limbs of the deceased for magical purposes, not only is the offender executed, but all the inmates of his house, although innocent of the crime, are perpetually banished. Persons giving information by which such offenders are brought to justice receive a reward of twenty ounces of silver from the government.
All persons rearing venomous animals, or preparing drugs of a poisonous nature, for the purpose of murder, are beheaded; their property confiscated, and family banished, even if no person is actually killed by such means.
The use of abusive language is very sternly repressed, especially if the offended person happens to be the husband or ancestor of the offender. The Code says: "Opprobrious and insulting language, having naturally a tendency to produce quarrels and affrays, this book of laws expressly provides for its prevention and punishment."
Robbery and theft are severely dealt with. If the individual plundered or stolen from
