When the historical-literary character of Judge Dee finds himself faced with the increasingly concrete failure of his investigation, he has no choice but to solemnly admit his inadequacies and prepare to resign. Robert van Gulik clarifies the meaning of this formal legal act: those in power are allowed to perform actions that would be considered illegal for all other citizens.

However, if the exercise of power does not correspond to its institutional purposes, the penalty for those illegal actions is normally imposed more severely. On the other hand, van Gulik himself recognises that in law, as in literature, there are certain topoi: behind a character or an institution, there is not only the implementation of concrete behaviours, but also (and, in some cases, above all) the actualisation of norms that are beyond human control . Operational in their binding nature and binding precisely because they are universally respected and applied.