tional severity. Death by decapitation, mutilation, strangulation, or poison is now less frequent than formerly.
Until within quite recent years it was the custom of Korean law to make the family of the arch-criminal suffer all his penalties with him. They are now exempted, and with the reforms introduced during the movement in 1895 some attempt was made to abolish practices opposed to the spirit of progress. The table, which I append, shows the punishments dispensed for certain crimes.
| Treason, Man | Decapitated, together with male relatives to the fifth degree. Mother, wife, and daughter poisoned or reduced to slavery. |
| Treason, Woman | Poisoned. |
| Murder, Man | Decapitated. Wife poisoned. |
| Murder, Woman | Strangled or poisoned. |
| Arson, Man | Strangled or poisoned. Wife poisoned. |
| Arson, Woman | Poisoned. |
| Theft, Man | Strangled, decapitated, or banished. Wife reduced to slavery, confiscation of all property. |
| Desecration of graves | Decapitated, together with male relatives to the fifth degree. Mother, wife, and daughter poisoned. |
| Counterfeiting | Strangulation or decapitation. Wife poisoned. |
Under the Korean law, no wife can obtain a legal dissolution of her marriage. The privilege of divorce rests with the man; among the upper classes it is uncommon. The wife, however, may leave her husband and accept the protection of some relative, when, unless the husband can disprove her charges, he has no redress. Should the wife fail to establish her case against her husband, the cost of the marriage ceremony, a large sum usually, is refunded by her relatives. The law does not force a wife to cohabit with her husband; nor, so far as it affects the woman, does it take any cognisance of the matter. A man may divorce his wife
