The text was compiled on the basis of sections dealing with homicides in such works as Xiyuan lu (q.v.), Fengji jilan (q.v.), Mingyuan jieyao 明冤節要, Yiyu ji (q.v.), and Xiangxing yaolan (q.v.). The table of contents includes annotations indicating which sections were drawn from which works. The author was stimulated by his inspection of prison registers in Guangxi, where he could see many homicide cases that stood unresolved even after several revisions. The first two juan deal with methods of corpse examination (檢法); j. 3 (the longest) is devoted to 78 dubious cases (疑獄); j. 4 provides models and warnings (法戒) in the form of biographical sketches of officials culled from histories.