Good in theory, but not in practice

Ha̍h8 lí-lūn bô ha̍h8 si̍t8-chè

So you want to be a judge?

Copyright 2009 Tân Gī-jîn. Used with author’s permission.

Cartoons do not reflect the views of the blogger or his employer.

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Lí tōa-hàn beh chò Tiong-hôa Tâi-pak ê hoat-koaⁿ? Che bô kán-tan oh. Tē-it, ài chiok phah piàⁿ tha̍k-chheh, iû-kî Tiong-kok kó͘·-chheh.

Kong-sái-chîⁿ hit lūi – ê?

Tē-jī, chèng-kì bô iàu-kìn, ài gâu thui-lūn/chhui-lūn

Che góa kài gâu…

Tē-saⁿ siōng-kài tiōng-iàu, bē-sái ū sek-bông.

Siáⁿ? Bē-sái sek-bông?

Ài hun-pia̍t chheng-chhó sek-tì.

Âng, chhiⁿ-sek?

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When you grow up you want to be a Chinese Taipei judge? This isn’t easy to do. First of all, you have to study really hard, especially the Chinese classics.

Like the “Gongshiqian” [This is a pun on the Song Dynasty use of 公使錢 (money officials could use in the course of their business). See the note below.]

Secondly, evidence doesn’t matter, and you need to be good at making (unfounded) inferences…

Oh, I’m the best at that…

Thirdly, and most importantly, you can’t be colorblind.

What? No colorblindness?

You need to clearly differentiate colors.

Like red and green?

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I wasn’t sure what 公屎錢 meant until I did some googling and came upon the letter below that was published on the op-ed page of the Liberty Times online edition back in 2007. Basically, it’s a pun on 公使錢, which rhymes with 公屎錢 in Taiwanese, and is an obvious swipe at Ma.

2007/8/16 自由電子報/陳君愷

公使錢不是這樣用的

馬英九特別費案判決書中引用了宋代公使錢與公用錢的例證。

將公使錢與特別費併觀，恐怕係筆者首先提出。當時筆者主要是指陳：特別費類似宋代公使錢或公用錢等名目，係傳統官僚體制的遺存，易造成公用與私用上的認知混淆，亦可能動輒得咎。因而希望台灣在由威權轉型為民主體制的過程中，不要如同皇權時代視官僚為小偷，以各種防弊措施防閒猜忌官僚；而應立足於民主觀念，肯定人的自律能力，重新界定這些首長費的使用規範。這種體制上的變革，自應由行政與立法體系著手。然而這個舉例，如今卻為司法體系濫用來為馬英九脫罪，真是令人感到啼笑皆非！

首先，宋代公使錢可以放進私人口袋，恐怕只是「實然」，不是「應然」。這也就是說：在理論上不能私入，但因為實際上大家都這麼做，也就約定俗成，甚至變為默許。筆者研究宋史，又在大學裡開授宋史課程，推測承審法官們可能沒搞懂「例」字的意思。在宋代法制史上，「例」至少有兩種涵義：一是「法例」（不成文的法規），這是必須「著為例」（登錄為行政慣例）的；一是「俗例」（不成文的陋規）。在公使錢或公用錢的場合，「例」字往往是「陋規」的意思。所謂可以「例入」，就是習慣上大家都貪污，卻心照不宣。至於一些不願同流合污的人，若非一介不取，就是把錢用在公務上。因此，把應該用於饋贈、送往迎來的公使錢放到口袋裡，原本就應該是貪污，但因為管也管不了，因而只好遷就現實，別立公用錢名目；但到了後來，連公用錢也變成可以「例入」！由此可見其貪污的嚴重性。因此，判決書中提及宋人認知公使錢、公用錢亦有所混淆，就因為那根本是一筆爛帳！

事實上，判決書中所引述學者林天蔚視公使錢為「首長特別津貼」、公用錢為「官署特別辦公費」的說法，若就學術的角度觀之，實仍未盡妥適。由於其論著並未細緻處理該制度的演變，亦未能解釋「公使庫」中的錢何以不稱為「公使錢」、而要叫做「公用錢」的疑點。因此，該說法只代表某一種學術觀點，並非定論，自不宜引入判決書中。（作者為輔仁大學歷史學系教授）

Case

Khè-suh

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Gún seng chí-chhut ū saⁿ chióng gí-giân liû-sit ê lūi-hêng, sui-bóng ū chi̍t kóa saⁿ chióng lóng thàu-lām ê khè-suh.

We’ll first point out that there are three kinds of language loss, although there are some cases where the three kinds are all mixed together.

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The usual Taiwanese word for a judicial or other case is, as in Mandarin,  àn or àn-kiāⁿ, but you’ll often see the English-derived khè-suh.

Sexual harrassment

Sèng-sau-jiáo

Greencard

Le̍k-khah

Legal loophole

Hoat-lu̍t8-phāng

Bùn hoat-lu̍t8-phāng

Take advantage of a legal loophole

Intellectual property (IP)

Tì-hūi châi-sán

Tì-hūi châi-sán-kôan

Intellectual property rights (IPR)

Tâi-ôan Tì-hūi Châi-sán Kio̍k

Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO)

(Chiūⁿ ke-thâu) khòng-gī oa̍h-tāng

(Take to the streets in) a protest activity

Chòe-āu ê siōng-sò∙

Final appeal

I chòe-āu ê siōng-sò∙ khì hōng pok-hôe.

His final appeal was rejected.