The 1889 ed. of this treatise on the autumn assizes begins with a j. 首 quoting 67 imperial edicts related to the assizes and covering 1742 to 1807; a note by Gangyi at the end of the mulu of this juan suggests that this section is a facsimile (摹刊) of a Ministry of Justice original copy (刑部原本). J. 1 contains two texts (preceded in the 1884 ed. by 4 folios of general considerations titled Qiushen shiyi 秋審事宜): (1) Qiuyan zhilüe 秋讞志略 (q.v.), and (2) Qiushen tiaokuan 秋審條款 (regulations classified according to the nature of cases; see under Qiushen shihuan bijiao tiaokuan for the five-category model used). The body of the work (j. 2-6) consists of the cases themselves, following the same classification in 5 categories (門), viz. cases involving officials (3 entries) and cases involving people within the five degrees of mourning (38 entries) (j. 2); homicides (68 + 72 entries) (j. 3-4); sexual crimes and violent robbery (40 entries) (j. 5); various cases (28 entries), followed by cases with pardon or deferment decided by analogy (j. 6). While autumn assizes regulations had been occasionally made available outside the ministry since 1767, their circulation remained limited and many legal specialists or local judges had a hard time finding copies (see Xie Chengjun’s pref. to Qiushen shihuan bijiao tiaokuan). Printed updated versions, including cases, appeared only in the late nineteenth century (see under Qiushen shihuan bijiao tiaokuan and Qiuyan zhi); Gangyi’s own printed ed. contributed to bringing together the different versions of the rules. His more original contribution, however, lies in his set of updated cases. According to Shen Jinxiang’s postface, the documents published in Qiuyan jiyao were hitherto kept secret at the Autumn Assizes Bureau. Gangyi, who had become familiar with them during his long career in the ministry, compiled them for himself and had them published when he was administration commissioner of Guangdong; but he could not take the printing blocks with him when he left the position. After he had been transferred from Yunnan to Shanxi in 1885, he got imperial approval to establish a center to train officials in law in Taiyuan (see under Muling xuzhi); there he used the text of Qiuyan jiyao to complement the study of the Code. Shen Jinxiang, the prefect of Taiyuan at the time, believed that the work should be used as a model by all officials, not just those entitled to submit sentences for the assizes; he therefore had a new edition produced.