# Buyeo law of murder and theft
The Buyeo law of murder and theft (부여의 법) is the set of criminal provisions attributed to the ancient Korean state of [Buyeo](https://www.edgepedia.org/buyeo), transmitted through Chinese accounts of the Eastern Barbarians. Under it, a murderer was executed and his family enslaved, a thief paid twelve times the value of the stolen goods, and adultery and severe jealousy in a wife were punished by death.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0063528) The provisions are of the same kind as Gojoseon's eight-article law, forbidding killing, theft, and adultery, and they stand at the head of a restitution tradition that later shaped Goguryeo, Baekje, and, in a reduced form, Tang Chinese law.[3](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_006_0050_0040_0020_0010) • [4](http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-ZYMD200605005.htm)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Subject | Criminal customs of Buyeo, recorded in Chinese dynastic histories[5](https://kiss.kstudy.com/thesis/thesis-view.asp?key=3125269) |
| Murder | Death for the offender; his family made slaves[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0063528) |
| Theft | Restitution at twelve times the value of the stolen goods[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [3](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_006_0050_0040_0020_0010) |
| Adultery and jealousy | Death for adultery between men and women and for a severely jealous wife; the corpse abandoned on a mountain[3](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_006_0050_0040_0020_0010) • [6](https://www.spo.go.kr/site/spo/06/10606010100002018100812.jsp) |
| Operation | Penal cases decided at the Yeonggo rite in the first month, with a state amnesty releasing prisoners[7](https://scholarworks.dongguk.edu/item/b0c66da2-8ebf-4065-93f6-a7f38171d1b6) |
| Later influence | Twelvefold restitution spread to Goguryeo and Baekje; a western vein ended as Tang law's twofold indemnification for theft[4](http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-ZYMD200605005.htm) |
| End of Buyeo | Weakened by Xianbei invasion from the late 3rd century; absorbed by Goguryeo in the late 5th century[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [8](https://korikorea.com/buyeo-sachuldo-national-system-history-kr/) |
## Origin and transmission
The provisions are preserved in the accounts of the Eastern Barbarians (Dongyi-jeon) of the Sanguozhi, the [Records of the Three Kingdoms](https://www.edgepedia.org/records-of-the-three-kingdoms), which record the folkways and criminal law of ancient Korean societies including Buyeo.[5](https://kiss.kstudy.com/thesis/thesis-view.asp?key=3125269) The provisions are a customary-law type of the same kind as Gojoseon's eight-article prohibitions.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [3](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_006_0050_0040_0020_0010)
## Contents
Four articles are transmitted.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [6](https://www.spo.go.kr/site/spo/06/10606010100002018100812.jsp)
1. **Murder.** A murderer was punished by death, and his family was taken and made slaves, a collective punishment applied alongside the execution.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0063528)
2. **Theft.** A thief had to pay twelve times the value of the stolen goods.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [3](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_006_0050_0040_0020_0010) This rule is summarized as the "one theft, twelve law" (1책 12법), taken to show how deeply private property was established in Buyeo.[8](https://korikorea.com/buyeo-sachuldo-national-system-history-kr/)
3. **Adultery.** Adultery between men and women was punished by death.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [3](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_006_0050_0040_0020_0010)
4. **Jealousy.** A wife guilty of severe jealousy was put to death, and her corpse was abandoned on a mountain.[3](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_006_0050_0040_0020_0010) • [6](https://www.spo.go.kr/site/spo/06/10606010100002018100812.jsp)
The punishments were severe: Buyeo's penalties were very strict, combining execution with the enslavement of the offender's family.[2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0063528)
## Operation of punishment
Third-century Buyeo had a punishment system operating routinely through offices (官) and penal institutions symbolized by the prison (牢獄).[7](https://scholarworks.dongguk.edu/item/b0c66da2-8ebf-4065-93f6-a7f38171d1b6) At the Yeonggo (迎鼓), the rite to heaven held in the first month of the Yin calendar, penal cases were decided and prisoners were released in a state amnesty, evidence that the royal authority controlled penal power; the king presided over the new-year rite and claimed descent from the heavenly god.[7](https://scholarworks.dongguk.edu/item/b0c66da2-8ebf-4065-93f6-a7f38171d1b6) The ga (加), representatives of each bu (部), judged capital offenses by conference during the Yeonggo rites, and a standing aristocratic conference decided matters including war, succession to the throne, and penal administration.[9](http://dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/NODE01872722)
## Political influence
The law of one theft, twelve times' indemnification was at its origin the specific law of ancient Fuyu (Buyeo); it spread southward and was absorbed by the Goguryeo people, entering the Korean peninsula with the Baekje migration, and it also spread westward with the Xianbei: one vein was absorbed into the law of [Northern Wei](https://www.edgepedia.org/northern-wei), Northern Zhou, Northern Qi, Sui, and Tang, ending as the [Tang dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/tang-dynasty)'s twofold indemnification for theft, while another remained in the steppe and became part of ancient Turkish unwritten law and later of Mongol law.[4](http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-ZYMD200605005.htm)
In Korea, Goguryeo required restitution for theft at ten times the value according to the Zhou Shu, or twelve times according to the Jiu Tangshu, and a thief unable to pay sold his children as slaves in compensation.[3](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_006_0050_0040_0020_0010) Goguryeo's rule is also recorded as twelvefold restitution with the offender's children enslaved if he could not pay.[6](https://www.spo.go.kr/site/spo/06/10606010100002018100812.jsp) In Baekje, punishment for theft took the form of corporal punishment plus a fixed monetary compensation, and such common-law restitution rules were transformed into Baekje's written statute law, promulgated in the first half of the 5th century (or mid-4th century) after Chinese model codes were transmitted through [Daifang Commandery](https://www.edgepedia.org/daifang-commandery).[10](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002242381) Baekje, according to the [Old Book of Tang](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-book-of-tang), required thieves to pay threefold compensation.[11](https://thekoreantoday.com/2025/11/05/history-lives-on-gojoseon-episode-18-the-legacy-of-the-eight-articles-birth-of-korean-legal-tradition/)
## Reception and assessment
Buyeo's four provisions stand in the same customary-law lineage as Gojoseon's eight-article prohibitions, which punished murder by death, injury with grain compensation, and theft by enslavement redeemable at 500,000 coins per person.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [12](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0059778) Buyeo's use of punishment (用刑) marks a stage between Gojoseon's eight clauses, where the sanctioning subject varied among the individual, the community, and third-party arbitration, and Goguryeo, where noble conference (評議) became concrete.[13](https://doi.org/10.18347/hufshis.2019.69.45) The distinctive exposure of the jealous wife's body is a punishment reflecting Buyeo's own customs.[9](http://dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/NODE01872722) Buyeo itself, weakened by repeated Xianbei attacks from the late 3rd century, surrendered to Goguryeo's King Munja-myung in the late 5th century, and the state was absorbed by Goguryeo.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030) • [8](https://korikorea.com/buyeo-sachuldo-national-system-history-kr/)
## References
1. (3) 여러나라의 성장 - 부여, 우리역사넷. https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/ta/view.do?levelId=ta_h61_0030_0020_0030
2. 형벌, 한국민족문화대백과사전. https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0063528
3. 삼국시대의 형률, 우리역사넷. https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_006_0050_0040_0020_0010
4. On the Influence of the Ancient Fuyu's Law to the Laws of Ancient East Asia, China Journal of Ancient History. http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-ZYMD200605005.htm
5. 『三國志』동이전(東夷傳)에 보이는 한국 고대사회의 속(俗)과 법(法), KISS. https://kiss.kstudy.com/thesis/thesis-view.asp?key=3125269
6. 검찰제도의 변천 - 부여·고구려·백제·신라의 법, 대한민국 검찰. https://www.spo.go.kr/site/spo/06/10606010100002018100812.jsp
7. 3세기 부여의 刑罰 운용과 王權, Dongguk University ScholarWorks. https://scholarworks.dongguk.edu/item/b0c66da2-8ebf-4065-93f6-a7f38171d1b6
8. 부여 사출도 및 제가회의로 보는 국가 시스템, Korikorea. https://korikorea.com/buyeo-sachuldo-national-system-history-kr/
9. 한국고대사회의 형벌권의 추이, DBpia. http://dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/NODE01872722
10. 백제 율령에 미친 중국왕조의 영향, KCI. https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002242381
11. The Legacy of the Eight Articles, The Korea Today. https://thekoreantoday.com/2025/11/05/history-lives-on-gojoseon-episode-18-the-legacy-of-the-eight-articles-birth-of-korean-legal-tradition/
12. 팔조법금, 한국민족문화대백과사전. https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0059778
13. The Formation and Systematization of Law in Korean ancient society. https://doi.org/10.18347/hufshis.2019.69.45
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › Korea › Gojoseon, Buyeo, and the Samhan (to 57 BC)*
*Initially written Sep 24, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license