The Child is the Betel Tray: Making Law and Love in Ayutthaya Siam

Abstract

This article investigates the process of making and applying law in Ayutthaya Siam through a close reading of one text from the Three Seals Code, the Law on Husband and Wife. Rather than a piece of legislation from a certain date, this law is an archive of judgements and decrees accumulated over a long period. The constituent clauses do not lay down rules but give examples of disputes and advice on solving them. The courts’ main role was to foster conciliation. The law seems to have been applied mainly to commoners. Many clauses have unusual features—editorial, graphic portrayal, poetic phrasing, word-play, homily—which suggest they had public use beyond a courtroom. The conclusion offers a speculative history of this law in the Ayutthaya era