明代公案小說自余象斗將《蕭曹遺筆》納入《廉明公案》始，訟師秘本的文例影響了後面多部公案小說的編纂。余象斗的編纂方式，是前所未有的。他為傳說中的公案故事補上虛擬的法律文例，也就是告詞、訴詞、審語，試圖拉近公案故事與訟師秘本文例集的距離。《廉明公案》由這兩種截然不同的內容組成，以往學者都認為這一類的集子似小說非小說。然著眼於余象斗的加工、編纂，其實透露著些許往小說發展的痕跡，但因余氏書坊商業化的生產方式，導致此一工作成了未竟的志業。他的公案集雖然為後面的幾部明代公案小說開啟了新的契機，但明代公案將法律材料完全轉化為小說，還是沒有在他手中完成。《廉明公案》、《諸司公案》按語、序文，處處受到《疑獄集》這部斷案筆記故事的拘繫，法律痕跡處處，很難說余象斗有意為小說，更遑論「新文類」的開創。

Ever since Xiang-Dou Yu included “Xiao Cao Yi Bi” into “Lian Ming Gong An”,compilation of many Gong An fictions afterward had been influenced by the legal documents in recipe books for law practitioners. The editing style of Xiang-Dou Yu is unprecedented: in an effort to cut the distance of Gong An stories and legal documents in recipe books for law practitioners, virtual legal documents, i.e., petition, plea and verdict are added into legendary Gong An stories. “Lian Ming Gong An” consists of two distinct components and it is viewed as being quasi-fictional by past scholars. When focusing on the rewriting and editing methods adopted by Xiang-Dou Yu, a trace of formation of fictions is revealed, but it is not fully developed because of commercial considerations of publication of Yu’s bookstore. In his collection of Gong An fictions, Yu opened the door but not finished in his own hand the job that completely transformed law materials into novels as found in later Gong An fictions in the Ming Dynasty. Since many places in comments and prefaces in “Lian Ming Gong An” and “Zhu Si Gong An” are limited by judicial short stories in “Yi Yu Ji” and “Zhe Yu Gui Jian” and showed vestiges of law, it is hard to state that Xiang-Dou Yu intended to create fictions, not to mention a new genre.