gushi 故事, precedent cases

The word gushi 故事, literally "ancient matters", has a jurisdictional and a literary meaning.

The judicial meaning of the word is "established" legal precedent (xingshi 行事, chengshi 成事, chengli 成例, xianli 先例, dianzhi 典制) or decrees of old (jiuzhi 舊制). The term gushi is first used in the legalist book Shangjunshu 商君書 (ch. Kenling 墾令). "Old" regulations are derived from imperial decrees and edicts (zhizhao 制詔), and were deemed as "old" when the law codes were revised. Examples of codes whose regulations are the Jianwu gushi 建武故事 and Yongping gushi 永平故事 mentioned in the Xintangshu 新唐書 (ch. Yiwen zhi 藝文志). "Old regulations" were adopted by successors to the throne and even by new regimes and were applied in the same way as new statutes and sub-statutes (lü ling 律令).

The word gushi can also be used in the same way as the term diangu 典故, literary allusion. Vice versa, the word diangu can refer to "established precedents" (chengli).

The literary meaning of the word gushi is a story, novella or romance, like in gushi xiaoshuo 故事小說 "historical novella". It focuses on describing the progression of events and emphasises the vividness and coherence of a plot, making it well-suited for oral storytelling.