When, after having moved to Switzerland, I had at last again time to spend behind my desk, I started on preparatory work for a long neglected task: the writing of the second volume of the Remnants of Han law, published more than twenty years earlier. But when in the summer of 1976 the Ch'in laws and regulations were published I put the work on this second volume aside and began with the study of this new material; after all, the Han had taken over the Ch'in legislation, and in studying this, I would also be working on Han law. Since then, six years have gone by, and for the time being my work on the Ch'in laws in finished. For the time being, because studies concerning these laws continue to appear, throwing new light on obscure passages in these difficult texts, with the result that before long I may be obliged to publish a list of corrections.