The law code at the core
Joseon was a dynasty that made rule by law an explicit principle. It worked on law codes from its founding and promulgated the Gyeongguk Daejeon in 1485 under King Seongjong. The code set out nearly every aspect of running the state: the structure of offices, appointment of officials, taxes, punishments and rites. Later codes supplemented it as times changed, but the Gyeongguk Daejeon remained the basic framework into late Joseon. When studying Joseon institutions, starting with what this code laid down makes it easy to see why each office and system took the shape it did.
Central offices: State Council, Six Ministries, Three Offices
At the top sat the State Council, where the Chief, Left and Right State Councillors deliberated on affairs of state. Day-to-day work was divided among six ministries. The Royal Secretariat handled the flow of royal orders, and its daily log, the Seungjeongwon Ilgi, survives in enormous volume. The Office of the Inspector General, the Office of the Censor General and the Office of Special Advisers were grouped as the Three Offices; they checked official misconduct, offered frank criticism to the king and supported policy with scholarship. The structure was designed so that power would not concentrate in one place.
- Personnel: appointment of officials
- Taxation: households, taxes and finance
- Rites: ceremonies, diplomacy, education and exams
- Military: the armed forces
- Punishments: law, lawsuits and penalties
- Works: construction, building and crafts
Local government
Joseon divided the country into eight provinces, sending a governor to each and a magistrate to each county below. The magistrate was responsible for everything in the county, from collecting taxes and hearing cases to keeping order and encouraging farming. The actual administrative work was often done by local clerks from the area. Because officials sent from the capital were rotated after a set term, it also helps to know that local clerks and powerful families who knew the area well had more influence than one might expect.
The examination system
The civil service examination selected officials by testing them. There was a civil exam for scholar-officials, a military exam for officers, and technical exams for specialists such as interpreters, physicians, astronomers and legal clerks. The civil exam began with a lower exam that produced licentiates and led on to the higher exam, and the regular exam was held every three years. Besides the regular exam, special exams were held on occasions of national celebration. Preparation took years and money, so taking and passing the exam favoured families with means.
Social status
Joseon society is often described in four layers: yangban, middle people, commoners and the lowborn. Legally, however, the basic division was between free people and the lowborn, and scholars widely explain yangban and middle people as layers that hardened through social standing. Most commoners were farmers who owed taxes, military service and labour. Most of the lowborn were enslaved people. Research shows that in late Joseon, economic change shook the status order, and changes appeared around genealogies and household registers.
Daily life and the economy
Most people lived by farming, and the rhythm of the year followed the seasonal divisions and farm work. In late Joseon, periodic markets spread across the country, and the pattern of a market roughly every five days took hold. The Daedong Law, first introduced in Gyeonggi Province in 1608, replaced tribute paid in various local products with payment in rice and similar goods, and was later extended to other regions. From 1678, under King Sukjong, the Sangpyeong Tongbo coin came into wide use and the money economy expanded.
A culture of records
Joseon placed great weight on keeping records. The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty cover 472 years from Taejo to Cheoljong, reign by reign, and were compiled after each king's death from the drafts kept by court historians, among other materials. There was a principle that even the king could not freely read those drafts. The Annals were stored in several archives in different places and survived wars, and in 1997 they were inscribed on the Memory of the World Register together with the original Hunminjeongeum text. Thanks to this, Joseon is an era in which we can look closely at how people of the time made decisions.
Common misconceptions about Joseon
Remembering a dynasty of more than 500 years as a single scene easily leads to misunderstanding. The ideas below often come from seeing only part of Joseon.
- Joseon looked the same from start to finish: the economy and society differed greatly between early and late periods
- All yangban were rich: many had fallen on hard times
- Kings ruled as they pleased: officials and institutions checked them heavily
- Scenes in historical dramas show how it really was: much is dramatised
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