Legal system from Tang and Song Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties

I. Tang Law and Chinese Legal System

(A)' Tang Law'-a unified code of etiquette

1. The revision process of the Tang Law-from the Five Virtues Law to the Yonghui Law. Tang Gaozu Li Yuan (A.D. 6 18-626) played in the seventh year of Wude (A.D. 624) as the law of Wude, which was the first code in the Tang Dynasty. There are 500 articles in the Law on Military Morality *** 12. After Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, in view of the fact that the martial law at that time could not fully meet the needs, in the first year of Zhenguan, Sun Chang Wuji, Fang and others were ordered to further revise the martial law and formulate a new code with reference to the Sui Kaidi Law, which was called Zhenguan Law in the eleventh year of Zhenguan (AD 637). Zhenguan method or 12 article 500. Revision of Zhenguan Law. For example, the principles and systems of five punishments, ten evils, eight discussions and analogy are determined by increasing the flow of labor and narrowing the scope of death by sitting. The revision of Zhenguan Law basically determined the main content and style of the Tang and Sui Dynasties, which had a far-reaching impact on the later Yonghui Law and other codes.

2. The promulgation of Yonghui Law. Yonghui Law, also known as Tang Law, is an extremely important code completed in Yonghui period of Tang Gaozong. In the second year of Emperor Gaozong Yonghui (AD 65 1 year), Sun Chang Wuji and Li Ji revised the Zhenguan Law. For example, the words in the famous article Zhenguan Original Law were even more "reasonable". They solemnly declared: "The old law was harmful to reason, but now it is harmful to reason to cover up the original appearance." Finally, I played the newly written law 12, which is Yonghui's law. In view of the fact that the central and local governments had different understandings of the legal provisions in the trial at that time, and there was no unified authoritative standard for the Ming and French examinations in the imperial examinations every year, Tang Gaozong ordered lawyers to study generalists and some important courtiers in Yonghui for three years.

The interpretation of Yonghui Law sentence by sentence inherits the achievements made by Zhang Fei and Du Yu since the Han and Jin Dynasties, especially in the Jin Dynasty. It took 65,438+0 years to write a 30-volume Law Book, which was co-edited with Yonghui Law. In October of the fourth year of Yonghui, Emperor Gaozong approved it and discussed the attached law. The score 12, 30 volumes * * *, is called Yonghui Law Book. After the Yuan Dynasty, people began with the word "discussing Japan", so it was also called "discussing laws in Tang Dynasty". Because of the unified legal interpretation of the whole law, it has brought convenience to the actual judicial trial, so that the book "Old Tang Law" says that "those who broke the prison at that time all cited and analyzed". The role of discussion is very important. In the book The History of Legal Development in China, Yang Honglie, a scholar, thinks that "Yonghui's law has been passed down to this day only through discussion".

Yong Lv Hui Shu summarizes the experience of legislation and legal annotation since the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, not only accurately explains and explains the main legal principles and systems, but also quotes Confucian classics as the theoretical basis of law as much as possible. The completion of Yonghui Law marks the highest level of ancient legislation in China. As the highest achievement of China's legal system, Yong Lv Hui Shu fully embodies the level, style and basic characteristics of China's ancient legal system, becomes a representative code of China's legal system, and has a far-reaching impact on several neighboring countries in the future. At the same time, the pre-Zhenguan laws were out of order, so Yonghui Law Book became the most complete, earliest and most influential ancient written code in the history of China. It occupies the most important position in the history of ancient legislation in China.

(2) heinous

1 From "Ten Felony" to "Ten Evil". The so-called "ten evils" are the ten major crimes that seriously endanger the fundamental interests of the ruling class as stipulated by the laws of Sui and Tang Dynasties, which originated from the "ten major crimes" of the laws of Northern Qi Dynasty. On the basis of "ten felonies", the Law of Sui Dynasty gained and lost, and determined the system of ten evils. Tang law inherited this system and included "ten evils" in the name law. The famous book "Yi" in the Law of the Tang Dynasty said: "Among the five punishments, ten evils are particularly serious, and the name of the text is marked with Ming."

2. The specific content of ten evils in Tang Law:

(1) rebellion: refers to the act of murdering the emperor and endangering the country;

(2) To seek great rebellion: it refers to the act of plotting to destroy the national ancestral temple, the emperor's mausoleum and the palace;

(3) Rebellion: refers to betraying the country and going to the enemy country;

(4) Evil disobedience: refers to the act of beating or murdering grandparents, parents and other respected relatives.

(5) No way: refers to the act of killing three people and dismembering them in non-capital crimes.

(6) Disrespect: refers to stealing the emperor's sacrificial offerings or imperial objects, forging or stealing the emperor's seal, misadjusting imperial medicine, mistakenly violating the fasting order, slandering the emperor and the ceremony of being an official, and damaging the emperor's dignity.

(7) Filial piety: refers to such unfilial acts as suing grandparents and parents, setting up private portals without their consent, dividing property, supporting grandparents and parents, and mourning their parents;

(8) Inconsistency: it means that the act of murdering or accusing the husband exceeds meritorious service;

(9) Injustice: refers to the act of killing the supervisor, trainee and husband for funeral;

(10) Civil strife: refers to incest such as raping relatives with slight achievements or above.

The crimes stipulated in the "ten evils" system in the Law of the Tang Dynasty can be roughly divided into two categories, one is the crime of violating imperial privilege and the other is the crime of violating ethical norms. The Law of the Tang Dynasty concentrated these charges at the top of the Law of Ming Regulations, and gave the most severe punishment in specific provisions. Moreover, the Tang law stipulates that those who commit ten evils will always be pardoned without applying the eight suggestions and other provisions, which is the origin of the saying of "heinous crimes". These special provisions fully embody the essence of Tang law, focusing on safeguarding imperial power, privileges, traditional ethical principles and ethical relations.

(3) six kills, six stolen goods and protecting koo.

1, six kills. According to the criminal's subjective intention, the Thief's Chapter in the Tang Dynasty distinguishes six killings, namely, the so-called "name killing", "rational killing", "fighting", "negligent killing" and "playing killing". The "murder" in the Tang law refers to premeditated murder; "So kill" means that although there is no premeditation in advance, you have the idea of killing when you feel urgent; "Beating and killing" means that the target of killing is misplaced for various reasons; "manslaughter" means "out of sight, out of mind", that is, manslaughter; "Killing game" refers to "violent game" that leads to murder. Based on the above differences, the Tang law stipulated different penalties. Murder, usually several punishments such as murder, but the handmaiden's murder of the master, children and grandchildren's murder of their loved ones is under the death penalty, which embodies the maintenance of traditional ethical principles. Intentional murder is usually punishable by death. Manslaughter will reduce the first-degree punishment of homicide. Fighting and killing also reduces the first-class punishment of homicide. Killing and killing will reduce the second-class punishment for fighting crime. Manslaughter is generally called "atonement theory", that is, making copper atone. The emergence of the theory of "Six Killings" reflects the development and perfection of the traditional killing theory in Tang Dynasty.

2. Six stolen goods. Six kinds of stolen goods refer to six kinds of crimes of illegally obtaining public or private property stipulated in the Tang law. The laws of the Tang Dynasty require officials to be honest and clean, and severely punish those who abuse power for personal gain or graft. The laws of the Tang Dynasty stipulated heavier penalties for property crimes than ordinary people. 6. The stolen goods specifically include the following expenses:

One is "taking money to bend the law", which refers to the behavior of officials taking money but not bending the law. The Official System of the Tang Dynasty stipulates that all officials who suffer financial injustice will be arrested with 15 horses.

The second is that "accepting money does not bend the law", that is, officials do not bend the law when accepting property. According to the official system of the Tang Dynasty, 30 horses loaded with stolen goods should be put to death even if they don't break the law.

The third is "imprisoned", that is, officials use their powers to illegally accept the property of people or subordinates within their jurisdiction. The Law of the Tang Dynasty stipulated the post station system. Officials are not allowed to accept gifts wherever they go on business trips, and those who take the initiative to ask for or forcibly ask for property will be severely punished. If a prison guard steals the property of his own prison or the property of a prisoner, he will be given a second-class punishment than stealing, and those who steal more than 30 horses will be twisted off. It even stipulates that it is not allowed to borrow property from prisoners; Do not treat subordinates privately or use their powers to do business for profit; Otherwise, depending on the situation, they will be flogged or imprisoned. The Law of the Tang Dynasty also stipulates that officials should restrain their families from accepting prisoners' property, and if their families commit crimes, they should be punished according to the officials themselves. If an insider steals his own things, he will be punished more severely than ordinary theft, and those who steal more than 30 horses will be twisted off.

The fourth is "robber", which refers to the act of obtaining public and private property by violent means. "Tang Law Thieves and Thieves" stipulates that robbers should be severely punished. Although they were deprived of money, they should be sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The murder weapon was the rich man's one foot and three years, the wounded ten horses, and the murderer beheaded.

Fifth, "theft" refers to the act of taking public and private property as your own by covert means. "Tang Law Thieves and Thieves" also strictly stipulates the general theft. Those who have no money will be fined 50, and those who have money will be punished with hard labor.