4. Stealing money resulted in death
How many people would hand in a wallet or purse if they found it in the middle of the street, with nobody about and no witnesses? Some would, some wouldn’t. In the USA, the first mint was created in 1792 and if anybody who worked at the mint decided to steal they would potentially be up for the chopping board. In China it was even worse (in terms of pain, anyway) – the Chinese would even go as far as to cut out the heart of the offender.