Chapter 176: Rule of Law

“The ship’s purser is dead, but the navigator is still alive. He says the ship was headed for Batavia.”

“Batavia?”

“That’s right, the Dutch territory.”

“In Indonesia—”

“Yes, they planned to sell their goods there and then buy spices to bring back and sell,” Ran Yao said. “We’ve checked, and there are still twenty merchants alive.”

“Is the ship owner alive?”

“The owner wasn’t on board. The owner’s agent, the purser, was killed by the pirates.”

“That’s good,” Ma Qianzhu thought. In that case, they could be a little more generous. “Return the goods to those who can be verified. The unclaimed goods will be ours.”

“I think that’s the best way to handle it,” Ran Yao nodded.

“We can buy the things we need, like pig iron, directly from them. It saves them the trouble of shipping it back, and maybe they’ll be willing to transport more for us in the future.”

Ma Qianzhu decided to be a good person to the end and proposed: to show the great, glorious, and correct image of the transmigrator group, any sailor from the large ship confirmed not to be a pirate would be given one tael of silver for travel expenses. As for the merchants whose goods were missing or damaged, they would also be given travel money to hire a boat home. Ran Yao, who was in charge of this matter, felt this was a comprehensive solution that didn’t harm anyone’s interests, so he agreed to it all.

Ma Qianzhu considered the matter settled and went back to distributing supplies. He didn’t expect to receive a phone call in his office that afternoon.

The proposed solution had just been announced on the OA system and hadn’t even been implemented when someone submitted a petition to the Executive Committee, demanding a re-evaluation. The difference in opinion was too great, and Ran Yao couldn’t make a decision, so he had to report the matter to the Executive Committee.

“What! A court hearing?” Ma Qianzhu was shocked. The transmigrator group had established a judicial office as a legal policy research department, which occasionally provided legal policy reference for the Executive Committee, but they had never held a proper court hearing. It was basically the security department that had the final say. Why was there a demand for a court hearing now?

The proposal was submitted by Ma Jia, the current Director of Customs. The core of his proposal was to “use this incident as an opportunity to establish maritime jurisdiction in the Qiongzhou Strait.”

The specific measure was to establish a maritime court in Bopu to exclusively handle all maritime matters in the Qiongzhou Strait, such as piracy, shipwrecks, salvage, cargo damage, ship collisions, and the determination of liability and compensation.

Maritime law originated very early in Europe, but China was basically a blank slate in this regard. Ma Jia believed that this legal system should be implemented in the sea areas controlled by the transmigrator group, which would help to regulate maritime trade and transport along the Chinese coast.

“I admit that ruling by law is very important, but what’s the use of this empty formalism now?” Ma Qianzhu questioned. “The law needs to be enforced by compulsory means to ensure its authority. Our decrees don’t even extend beyond Lincheng, and the sea area we control is just the coast of Lincheng. Isn’t it too early to set up this system?”

“The transmigrator group is using Hainan Island and Taiwan as its base of operations, following a strategy of expanding from the coast to the inland. Therefore, for a considerable period of time, the shipping industry will be our main pillar industry. Establishing a sound maritime law and formulating maritime navigation and trade norms from now on will be of great help to the future development of the industry! We may not be able to govern the entire Qiongzhou Strait now, but we can start with the waters between Lincheng and Xuwen. Everything has a beginning,” Ma Jia argued passionately at the meeting, emphasizing the importance of establishing a maritime court. Of course, he also linked the British maritime hegemony to their early establishment of professional maritime courts.

After hearing the report, the Executive Committee adjourned for ten minutes, during which the members held private consultations. This proposal raised concerns in the Ministry of Maritime Forces. Chen Haiyang expressed that the current maritime law enforcement power was unified under the Navy. After the establishment of this maritime court, how would the powers of the two sides be divided? How would they coordinate their work? Would it lead to a situation of multiple-headed management?

“I think this worry is unnecessary,” Ma Jia said eloquently. “A maritime court is an adjudication body, not responsible for specific law enforcement. The court doesn’t handle arrests or prosecutions; specific law enforcement is the job of the public security department. The only trouble is the issue of coordination.”

The Ministry of Maritime Forces and the maritime court were two different systems. How to ensure the effective implementation of decrees was the key issue.

It was obviously impossible to disperse the law enforcement power of the Ministry of Maritime Forces at this time. The guiding principle of the Executive Committee for institutional setup was to minimize the number of agencies and unify command. Ma Qianzhu proposed: since they had already begun building dedicated security patrol boats, a “Maritime Security Department” could be established under the Ministry of Maritime Forces to specifically handle patrol, anti-smuggling, security, and fishery protection tasks in coastal areas. It would be under the dual leadership of the Ministry of Maritime Forces and the professional departments.

“The name ‘Maritime Security Department’ sounds too Japanese. Let’s just call it the Coast Guard,” Chen Haiyang said.

“I think ‘Maritime Police Force’ is fine, simple and clear…”

“No, that name is easily confused with the police system,” Chen Haiyang flatly refused.

Thus, the Coast Guard was established. The original maritime police instructor, Gao Xiaosong, was appointed as the commander of the Coast Guard, which was considered a return to his old profession. In reality, this organization was nothing more than a title and a seal; it had no physical entity. There was no specific personnel establishment, and Gao Xiaosong was just a figurehead. It was a nominal organization.

“Why create such an empty organization? Can’t we just have the professional departments coordinate with the Navy directly?” Ma Jia asked Ma Qianzhu in confusion afterwards.

“It’s for ease of coordination. If the title is too grand, it’s hard to coordinate,” Ma Qianzhu said cryptically.

Ma Jia understood. This was purely to save the Navy’s face. Otherwise, if the mighty Navy were to be commanded by Customs or a maritime court—even if it was just for a temporary mission—these people would probably feel they had lost face. Creating a subordinate department to liaise with made coordination much easier.

Ma Qianzhu had another thought that he didn’t voice: the transmigrator group was still weak. When they occupied Hainan and Taiwan and expanded into Southeast Asia, the power of the Ministry of Maritime Forces would expand dramatically. To avoid a situation where one entity became too powerful, it would be necessary to divide the Ministry of Maritime Forces. An empty organization now could be directly split off later—an independent Coast Guard was an international norm, and the Navy would have no grounds to object.

Gao Xiaosong was chosen as the commander not only because it was his profession but also because he was not from the PLA Navy. Once the Coast Guard was separated, it would be less susceptible to the Navy’s influence.

Of course, Ma Qianzhu would not tell anyone this. He believed that most of the Executive Committee members could see this line of thought, but many things in the world were better left understood than said.

The Executive Committee felt that establishing a professional maritime court was not a bad idea. Since Ma Jia’s position as Director of Customs was idle anyway, they might as well let him set up this court. So they agreed to establish the Bopu Maritime Court in Bopu, sharing the same institutional setup as Customs.

“But I have a few requests. No matter which version of maritime law we plan to implement, I hope the various departments of the Executive Committee can coordinate,” Ma Jia immediately put forward his demands.

“As soon as you have power in your hands, you start issuing orders. Go on,” Wen Desi said with a smile.

“First, ships captured during law enforcement operations must be detained by the maritime court first. Before the maritime court issues a judgment, no department can dispose of them…”

“Wait, there’s a problem here,” Chen Haiyang questioned. “Currently, ships captured in combat by the Navy are handed over to the Planning Committee for unified disposal. In the future, will they all be handed over to the maritime court?”

“Of course not. What’s handed over to the maritime court are ships captured in law enforcement operations, such as in anti-piracy and anti-smuggling operations.”

“This is hard to define. For example, anti-smuggling is clear. But for security operations like suppressing bandits, Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang are also pirates, but fighting against them can’t be called a security law enforcement operation, can it? For a behemoth like Zheng Zhilong, we’d have to use all our strength to deal with him.”

Ma Jia was at a loss for words. This definition was not originally difficult. But the transmigrator group’s own status was not clear, which made it difficult to define war and law enforcement actions.

“Let’s not get sidetracked. Let Ma Jia finish. We’ll discuss it at the end,” Wen Desi said.

The second point was that all persons captured at sea, including pirates, illegal fishermen, smugglers, and the like, must be tried and sentenced by the maritime court before being dealt with. In the past, the transmigrator group had followed the principle that all prisoners, regardless of who captured them, were handed over to the Internal Affairs Committee for unified disposal.

“And the issue of trials will also be difficult to solve,” Ran Yao slowly spoke on behalf of the Internal Affairs Committee. “It’s the same problem of defining pirates we just discussed.”

Most of the Executive Committee members felt that it was not yet time to introduce a judicial system. Once a judicial system was established, many things would become complicated. Originally, when a bandit was caught or a thief was captured, the police headquarters would simply sentence them to the labor reform team, which was convenient and fast. Once a judicial system was in place, it would involve evidence collection, prosecution, and sentencing. Even if they didn’t play around with public prosecution and defense, just going through the motions of the entire procedure would take a lot of time and be inefficient.

Wu De, however, strongly agreed:

“I agree with starting with the maritime court and gradually improving our judicial system. This is the foundation of our civil administration system!”

As the number of people under their control grew, so did the number of legal matters. There was no shortage of criminal cases and civil disputes. While there was a hastily drafted “Public Security Law” for security and criminal cases, which provided some legal basis and made handling them relatively convenient, civil disputes were completely without rules. Wu De now had to deal with civil disputes among the people under his jurisdiction every day. It not only consumed a lot of his time and energy, but he also didn’t understand the law, let alone the complex and obscure civil law. His judgments were now entirely based on his own preferences and understanding of justice. Although he strove for fairness, he still felt uneasy.

Civil disputes have their complexities and involve all aspects of people’s lives, with a great impact on their vital interests. Wu De felt that continuing to deal with them this way was not a long-term solution. He had repeatedly petitioned the Executive Committee to establish a civil court system. The Executive Committee felt it was unnecessary and had not agreed. They had only sent him a few people who had studied law to help.

“I also support starting the construction of the judicial system slowly now,” the speaker was Dongmen Chuiyu. He was in charge of trade in Dongmen Market and also had to deal with commercial disputes from time to time. He shared Wu De’s confusion.

After some bargaining, the Executive Committee finally decided: the jurisdiction of the maritime court would not include piracy cases. The trial and judgment of all cases involving pirates would still be handled by the police headquarters. The operation of the maritime court would serve as a pilot for the judicial system, which would then be gradually extended to civil and criminal matters.

Although this decision disappointed Ma Jia slightly, most of the maritime court’s authority was approved, which was satisfactory. However, Ma Jia did gain a major power: the Executive Committee clearly stipulated that all ships obtained through maritime security and war operations must be adjudicated by the maritime court before being finally handed over to the Planning Committee for disposal. This regulation also included all items on the captured ships.

In other words, the Planning Committee would still be responsible for inventorying the spoils, but it had no right to dispose of or distribute them before the maritime court issued a judgment.

“Chief, that Ma Jia is not a decent fellow,” someone whispered in the office of the Director of the Planning Committee after the meeting. “Without your full support, the maritime court would never have been approved today. And the first thing Ma Jia does is snatch the right to dispose of the spoils.”

“No matter how it’s disposed of, it still has to come to the Planning Committee in the end. The power of distribution is still with the Planning Committee.”

“I just don’t get it. What’s the difference between having the spoils go through the maritime court before being distributed and having the Planning Committee receive and distribute them directly? It’s just an extra procedure, completely unnecessary!”

“There is a difference. We are implementing the spirit of ruling by law,” Ma Qianzhu certainly knew that this seemingly meaningless measure was actually the pursuit of so-called “procedural legitimacy.” The essential idea was to gradually replace administrative orders with law.

Just like many regimes in this world, although they have nothing to do with their citizens, they still need a complex system of representative institutions, hold elections, and produce some members of parliament. Even in the dynastic changes of ancient China, where the strong and powerful prevailed, they still had to go through the motions of receiving the mandate of heaven. Although it has nothing to do with the law, the idea of pursuing procedural justice is the same.

However, Ma Qianzhu was not too happy about this either—no one would be pleased to have part of their jurisdiction taken away. He had originally planned to raise objections at the Executive Committee meeting, but on second thought, although there was an extra step in the process of handling maritime spoils, the specific departments involved did not change, and the final power of distribution remained unchanged. The maritime court was an empty shell, just a nameplate. At this stage, its symbolic significance was greater than its practical significance; it was just a matter of stamping and issuing a judgment document. It was a constraint, but not a big problem.

“The maritime court system must be established, and it must be done relatively formally,” Ma Qianzhu thought deeply and decided to take a step back on this issue. After all, through this discussion of the maritime court, he had successfully planted the seed of the Coast Guard within the Ministry of Maritime Forces, and the stripping of the right to dispose of maritime spoils also reduced the pressure on the Planning Committee from the Navy in the competition for spoils.

After seeing off his “justice-seeking” guest, Ma Qianzhu thought that since he had agreed to establish the maritime court, he should show that he fully respected the spirit of “ruling by law” and follow the rules. He called for Hou Wenyong and had him hand over the list of all kinds of spoils captured in this battle.

“Don’t forget to get a receipt,” he instructed.

Ma Jia was in high spirits. He returned to the Customs building in Bopu—strictly speaking, it was a small building, a three-story brick-and-wood structure with a landmark clock tower, although there was no clock on it at the moment.

“Ma Jia, what’s the happy occasion?” Ji An noticed the change in his expression.

“There is indeed happy news, not just for me, but for you too.”

He then told him about the Executive Committee’s decision to establish the maritime court.

“Now I’m finally back in my own profession!”

Ji An suddenly understood. The so-called “not just for me, but for you too” meant that the title of Director of Customs would most likely fall to him in the future.

Although the Director of Customs was a second-tier leader, he was still a department head and could attend Executive Committee meetings. It was much better than his current position as Executive Deputy Director of Customs.

Ma Jia chose an office in the Customs building to serve as the office and courtroom of the maritime court. For now, there were probably no cases to be tried, so it was just a formality.

Strike while the iron is hot, set up the framework and pull together a team, creating a fait accompli—this was a skill that Chinese people were most adept at. Ma Jia was no exception.

With power in hand, Ma Jia immediately began to issue orders. He had a batch of blank official documents with the maritime court’s letterhead printed at Zhou Dongtian’s place and asked him to carve a large official seal: the design was naturally the old-fashioned sea wave pattern with a scale. He also added a pair of Chinese-style flying fish patterns. He stamped the blank official documents again and again, thinking it looked much better than the Customs seal. He then went to Wu De and chose a native with beautiful and neat handwriting to be a clerk. He formally sent documents to all departments, announcing the establishment of his unit.

His application to increase the number of transmigrator personnel was rejected. Although Wu De considered judicial work to be very important, he did not think it was the time to add more staff, so he asked him to “persevere” and “make good use of the existing manpower at Customs.”

“The existing manpower at Customs?” Ma Jia thought. The only other transmigrator at Customs was Ji An. This person was a customs broker by profession and was adequate for customs work, but it would be a bit difficult for him to handle a maritime court. It seemed he would have to rely on the “Law Club” members.

Soon, he received the documents and materials he needed from various places. Ma Jia was most concerned about the Planning Committee’s list of captured spoils. After receiving the list of captured ships and spoils from Ma Qianzhu, he carefully reviewed it.