公案小說湧現於晚明，論者多謂肇因自明末吏治不清，將期待清官斷案以實踐法律正義映照於小說裡，然公案之敘寫實有表述階級的集體意識，並非想當然地歸結在單一的因由。鑒於此，本文試以最具代表性之書坊主余象斗編纂兩種《廉明公案》、《諸司公案》為範疇，分由敘事結構與命題考索其中所反映共同的思維，以發現公案特質及其流行原由。首先，在敘事結構上，以形似法律精神的建構方法，呈現簡易的善惡人物對抗，完成為良善者平反的歷程；其次，在命題上，謂此歷程為貌似報應的天道運作，其實是報復的完成，由此可見公案訴諸於讀者心中的正義的形塑，故採用階級劃分善惡，來回應市民的期待，無論是市民自認為絕對良善，抑或認定維護自身權利乃天道展現，皆屬於想像中的「正義」，而此讀者所呈現的群眾意識，支持著也補充公案小說之興起與內容，亦說明通俗小說所具有記敘社會氛圍的功能與意義。

The emergence of F in the late Ming dynasty has been attributed to the unclear governance of officials at the end of the Ming dynasty, and the expectation of clear officials to decide cases in order to practice legal justice is reflected in the novels. In view of this, this paper attempts to examine the common thinking reflected in the narrative structure and propositions of the two most representative books Lianming gongan (廉明公案) and Zhusi gongan (諸司公案) compiled by Yu Xiangdou (余象斗), the master of the bookstore, in order to discover the characteristics of the public cases and the reasons for their popularity. First, in terms of narrative structure, the construction method resembles the spirit of law, presenting a simple confrontation between good and evil characters, and completing the process of vindicating the good; Second, in terms of proposition, it is said that this process is a seemingly retributive operation of heaven, but in fact it is the completion of retribution. Whether the citizens consider themselves to be absolutely virtuous or believe that the protection of their rights is a manifestation of heavenly justice, they all belong to the imagined "justice", and the mass consciousness presented by the readers supports and complements the emergence and content of the public fiction, and also illustrates the function and significance of popular fiction in recounting the social atmosphere.