1962年,一位名叫Sybille van der Sprenkel的英国人类学家出版了一本关于清代法律的书,这部书虽然也谈到地方衙门,谈到大清律例,但是更多的篇幅被用来描述和讨论普通的社会组织和日常生活场景:村社、亲族、家户、市镇、会社、行帮、士绅、农民、商贾、僧道、婚姻、收养、继承、交易、节日、娱乐、纠纷及其解决,等等。如此处理法律史,显然是假定,法律并不只是写在国家制定和施行的律例里面,它们也存在于那些普通的社会组织和生活场景之中。所以,尽管van der Sprenkel重点讨论的只有宗族的、行会 In 1962, a British anthropologist named Sybille van der Sprenkel published a book on the law of the Qing dynasty. Although this book also referred to local yamen and talked about the Qing law, more space was Used to describe and discuss common social organizations and everyday scenes of life: village, kinship, household, town, club, gang, gentry, peasant, merchant, monk, marriage, adoption, inheritance, trading, festivals, entertainment Disputes and their resolution, and so on. To deal with the history of law in this way apparently presumes that laws are not written only in the statutes formulated and implemented by the state and that they exist in ordinary social organizations and scenes of life. So, although van der Sprenkel focuses only on clans, guilds