The Case of Akedun, the High Official Sentenced to Death with Three Reprieves

Akedun, a senior Manchu official and Minister of Justice, was three times sentenced to death with a reprieve (zhan jianhou). In 1748, during the funeral of Empress Xiaoxian, he erroneously translated “Imperial Deceased Mother” into “Former Empress Dowager” in the Manchu text of the eulogy. The Qianlong Emperor, in deep mourning, regarded this as grave disrespect and ordered his trial. The Board of Punishments sentenced him to immediate decapitation, but the emperor commuted it to suspended death. Within a few years, Akedun was again condemned for misjudging criminal cases and for displaying insolence, each time receiving the same suspended death sentence. Remarkably, the emperor pardoned him each time, restoring him to high office. He eventually served as Grand Secretary and died peacefully in 1756. The case is a classic illustration of absolute imperial will overriding consistent legal procedures.

Akedun was convicted and sentenced to death with a reprieve on three separate occasions. Each time, the Qianlong Emperor intervened to grant clemency, later reinstating him as Minister of Justice and raising him to the position of Grand Secretary. He died of natural causes while still in office.

Whether the original translation error warranted a capital crime; the legitimacy of repeated imperial pardons undermining the judicial system; the arbitrary application of the suspended death sentence as a tool of royal favor rather than law.

The case highlighted the emperor’s supreme and arbitrary power over the legal system in imperial China. It became a frequently cited anecdote demonstrating how personal imperial sentiment could outweigh formal statutes, fueling debates about the rule of law and the privileges of high-ranking Manchu officials. The phrase “Akedun’s three suspended deaths” entered popular discourse as a symbol of unpredictable justice under absolute monarchy.