Examined in this article is the past practice of "stealing slaves" that seem to have been prevalent in the 17th century. Primary sources consulted for that purpose are the lawsuit-related documents that concerned slave issues. The socio-historical meaning of those lawsuits, and the slave stealing practice in general, will be determined here.
Included in the old records of the Yun Family of Hae"nam(海南尹氏) are lawsuit files submitted by Yun Seon-do(尹善道) which were filed to get back a slave who had been captured by slave hunters. Yun seon-do learned that some slaves of his were kidnapped by a group of slave hunters while tracking down fugitive slaves himself. And in the process he found out that his own cousin (who was from an illegitimate birth) was involved in such scheme. He filed lawsuits in the Chung"cheong-do and Gyeonggi-do provinces and finally in the Capital as well, but it was a difficult task to win back such stolen slaves and punish the slave hunters.
The case itself and the procedure of the trial was simple, but the lawsuits themselves indicate that there were complicated problems causing a rift in the slave system of the late Joseon period, such as escape(逃亡), hunting down of fugitive slaves(推刷), hiding(隱漏), stealing(橫奪) and subsequent litigation. And related documents reveal various perspectives of people who were involved in such lawsuits. As slavery became less regulated since the Two wars, more and more slaves escaped and it became difficult for slave owners to restrict such movements. As disclosed in Yun’s lawsuit records, the ruling elite of the upper class Yangban figures such as Yun did not set out to chase fugitive slaves until more than ten years had passed, which shows us the difficulties slave owners had at the time in controlling their own slaves. Moreover, litigation rarely worked to the benefit of the victims; even when slave hunters were judged guilty, it was uneasy to punish them. It did not matter whether such an action was brought bya victimized slave or the slave owner himself.
Slave hunters are generally referred to as slave patrols who were retained by slave owners to chase fugitive slaves, but this definition was expanded to include such persons who illegally kidnapped or captured slaves for their own benefit under the pretext of slave patrolling. They targeted an insecure people such as escapees, frontier slaves and former lowborn who paid to become a commoner(贖良價 ). Slave hunters kidnapped those 贖良者victims and owned them themselves, or sold them away or even seized slave tributes or the money they carried (for future usage of paying for their own bodies[贖良價]). Slave hunters often used violence but sometimes did not shy away from taking legal action, as they submitted official household registers or written confirmation or promise. Such use of legal measures was possible partially because official household registers did not serve as an effective tool for discerning one"s social status in such lawsuits at that time.
Such various aspects revealed in the lawsuits over slaves suggest a change in the Joseon society of the 17th century. It was becoming a more complex and multi-layered society, which can no longer be analyzed in a analytic frame based on a social structure supposedly comprised of the governing class and the governed.