In fact, not only the modern society requires the supervision of commodity trading activities, but also the management of commodity trading in ancient times is very strict, and almost all governments of past dynasties have formulated laws and regulations to manage and adjust commodity trading activities. Next, let's take a look at how ancient people used the law to manage commodity trading activities.
First, the evolution of the legal content of regulating commercial activities in ancient China.
In the pre-Qin period, some big cities had trading markets, and the state also set up special management institutions and personnel-"quality people". Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the government has controlled the sale of slaves, cattle and horses, and made official documents. Zhou Li records: "The market is dominated by Japanese members, and the market is dominated by hundreds of nationalities; The market changes from time to time, with businesses as the mainstay; The market changes from time to time, with couples as the mainstay. "
The system of managing commodity transactions in the Western Zhou Dynasty had a special place, time and people to manage it, which initially had the embryonic form of the legal system of market management and laid the foundation for the legal system of commodity transaction management in later generations.
After the reunification of Qin Dynasty, there were special laws to regulate commercial activities, such as Guan Shi Law. Qin law mainly divides commercial activities into prohibitive clauses and protective clauses. Prohibitive regulations, such as prohibiting the sale of alcohol in rural areas, prohibiting officials from illegally doing business, and prohibiting smuggling, have also been absorbed and inherited by successive dynasties. The land law of the Qin Dynasty stipulates: "People who live in the house dare not drink alcohol, but Tian Sifu and Buzuo are forbidden to follow it, and those who do not follow it are guilty." "Drinking" means selling wine.
The Miscellaneous Copy of Qin Law stipulates that officials should use the horses equipped for him to make profits in business and be exiled. "Legal Question and Answer" recorded the cases of smuggling jewelry, smuggling jewelry out of the country and selling it to foreign guests. After being arrested, the jewels should be handed in and the captors should be rewarded.
The laws of the Qin Dynasty also paid attention to protecting legitimate business activities. For example, the legal question and answer stipulates that if a thief steals A's clothes and sells them to C, and then the thief is caught, the cloth and other things he bought should be returned to A according to the law, but the clothes that C legally bought from the thief need not be returned to A ... This is similar to the bona fide third party system in modern civil law.
In addition, the laws of the Qin Dynasty also stipulated the prices of different commodities. For example, the Sikong Law stipulated that the price of grain was "30 yuan", the labor force was "8 yuan per day, and the public eater was 6 yuan per day". Qin law also stipulates that the goods sold in the market should be clearly marked, and the small items below one yuan can be unmarked. For example, the "Golden Cloth Law" stipulates: "Buying and selling depends on its price. If you can't get a penny for a little thing, don't be a baby. "
In Han Dynasty, commodity economy was developed and trade activities were frequent. In order to reduce trade disputes, the law stipulates that the buyer and the seller should sign a contract "voucher book" in duplicate, and the buyer and the seller each hold one. In case of dispute, the voucher book shall be used as evidence. The main contents of the contract include the date of sale, price, goods (subject matter), names of both parties, witnesses, etc. Vouchers are what we now call buying and selling vouchers, and they are evidence in the legal sense. Most of the contents of the laws of the Han Dynasty about buying and selling securities were inherited and developed by later generations.
The Tang and Song Dynasties witnessed unprecedented prosperity of China's ancient commodity economy, so the laws of Tang and Song Dynasties managed commodity transactions more carefully and comprehensively. In the Tang Dynasty, the residential area (square) and the trading area (city) were strictly separated by high walls, and the time and place of trading were strictly controlled by law.
Before the middle and late Tang Dynasty, in order to better maintain the centralized rule, the residential and commercial areas in the city were strictly controlled, and the commodity trading activities also had very strict time restrictions. Only when you hear the drums can you go to the market to trade, and you should leave immediately when you hear the drums. According to the Six Classics of the Tang Dynasty, "In every city, drums are played 300 times in the afternoon, and people will come. In the first seven minutes of the day, the pheasant was beaten three hundred times before the crowd dispersed. "
The law of the Tang dynasty followed the content of concluding contracts in the previous dynasty, and also prohibited fraud and breach of contract in the process of buying and selling. "Six Codes of the Tang Dynasty" stipulates that "anyone who buys or sells handmaiden, cattle and horses must use our headquarters for public inspection to establish a certificate". In the Tang Dynasty, buying and selling handmaiden, cattle and horses must conclude a certificate according to law.
"Discussion on the Law of the Tang Dynasty" also stipulates: "If the price of buying handmaiden, horse, ox, camel, mule and donkey has exceeded, there is no market coupon. Five days later, the buyer 30 yuan and the seller were downgraded. After the voucher is issued, those who have an old illness will regret it within three days. Those who have no illness will be dealt with according to the law, and offenders will be fined 40. "
When buying and selling cattle, horses and other commodities, market vouchers must be made. If the contract is not concluded in accordance with the regulations, the buyer will be fined 30 yuan and the seller will be demoted by one level for more than five days. After signing the contract, you can go back on your word if you find that the cattle and horses you bought are sick within three days.
The laws of the Tang Dynasty also prohibited price gouging. "Tang Law" stipulates that "those who participate in the market refer to people buying and selling, competing with each other, confusing each other, and one stick is eighty."
During the period of Renzong in the Northern Song Dynasty, the street drum was finally abolished, and the curfew system was completely abolished. In the third year of Song Taizu's Gande (AD 965), the imperial court issued a decree, and the night market after opening Fengfu could not help but say, "On April 13th, the imperial court issued a decree, and Sangu banned the night market in Beijing."
During the period of Wang Anshi's political reform, in order to break the monopoly of wealthy businessmen, he promulgated the law of market exchange, set up the market exchange department, set up officials, recruited pedestrians and dentists (intermediaries in the modern sense) and bought unsalable goods at low prices.
The laws of the Song Dynasty have basically the same provisions on buying and selling handmaiden and horse cattle as those of the Tang Dynasty. In Song Dynasty, overseas trade was frequent. During the first year of Zong's reign, Shen Zongyuan formulated the world's first special maritime foreign trade law, the Municipal Shipping Law, and established the Municipal Shipping Department to manage overseas trade.
During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, there were new regulations on the sale of livestock, such as the need to entrust a dentist to buy and sell livestock. Although the tooth man appeared in the Song Dynasty, it became an indispensable intermediary in commodity trading after the Yuan Dynasty.
The laws of the Ming Dynasty were stricter than those of the previous generation, and the types of goods prohibited from entering the market were explicitly prohibited. For example, "All goods woven with dragons, phoenixes, silks and tulle among the people should be paid a hundred sticks", and "Jiangxi porcelain kilns are forbidden to burn blue-and-white porcelain from official kilns". The provisions of Ming Law prohibiting price gouging and disrupting the market are more detailed than those of Tang Law. Ming law stipulates that "when you see people buying and selling, you can compete with each other and confuse each other for profit, and answer 40" "If you sell things cheaply, you will get a stick of 80".
The laws of the Qing Dynasty generally inherited the contents of the laws of the Ming Dynasty.
Second, the characteristics of ancient laws regulating commercial activities in China.
Judging from the ideas behind commercial laws and regulations, China's ancient commercial law, as a part of ancient laws, naturally reflects Confucianism. In ancient China, the country was governed by courtesy, and businessmen's business activities should also follow the requirements of propriety, so the business laws and regulations formulated by the government also reflected the idea of propriety. Disputes arising from trading activities shall be settled through mediation.
The ancient commercial law also embodies the "honesty" in Confucianism, and the provisions such as prohibiting price gouging and opposing fraudulent transactions are the normative contents that require traders to be honest.
Judging from the content of commercial laws and regulations, the management content of commercial activities in ancient China is in the same strain and keeps pace with the times. The more mature the legislative technology, the more reasonable and complete the content. There are two main contents, one is to prohibit and crack down on illegal business operations and illegal business operations, and the other is to protect and standardize legal business activities.
The content of commodity trading in ancient Chinese law is a process of continuous improvement. For example, both the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty had foreign trade, but most of them were land trade, and there was no legal provision for maritime trade. The development of compass and shipbuilding in the Song Dynasty promoted the prosperity of maritime trade, so the Song Dynasty kept pace with the times and formulated the Maritime Trade Law. Another example is the Song Dynasty, which broke the time limit of commodity trading and promoted the development of night market economy.
Judging from the purpose of making laws and regulations, the political goal is greater than the economic goal. In order to maintain long-term stability, increase fiscal revenue and formulate commercial laws, the ancient rulers of China had far more political considerations than economic ones. Coupled with the social environment of emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce, the laws formulated by the ancients have more negative prohibitions than positive protections. The commercial law for this purpose limited the development of ancient commodity economy to some extent.
Thirdly, the content of commercial activities adjusted by ancient Chinese laws brings modern enlightenment.
1. Pay attention to the publicity of commercial law. The Ming Dynasty paid special attention to the publicity of law. Zhu Yuanzhang emphasized that the law should be "easy to understand" and he tried to make the law simple and clear. After the patent of Mingda University was published, he also asked every household to have one regardless of the official and civilian level to encourage people to learn the law.
Popularizing law is also an indispensable part of modern rule of law. Strengthening legal publicity can make consumers and operators familiar with the price rules and illegal consequences of commodity trading, which is helpful to market stability.
2. Actively inherit and absorb the essence of traditional commercial law culture. China's traditional legal culture has a long history and accumulated a lot of experience. To build a contemporary legal system, we should take its essence, keep pace with the times on the basis of inheritance and constantly improve commercial laws and regulations.
China's ancient commercial laws and regulations lasted for thousands of years, and accumulated a lot of valuable experience in practice, which is also applicable to the present. For example, the Confucian merchant culture behind the traditional legal system is the social responsibility advocated by modern businessmen and conforms to mainstream values.
3. Distinguish and give consideration to the political and economic objectives of commercial law. Law is the embodiment of the will of the ruling class and a tool to maintain the rule. In ancient China, agriculture was emphasized and commerce was restrained. Commercial laws mostly served to maintain feudal rule and had obvious political purposes.
Due to political considerations, ancient laws interfered too much in commercial activities, while Socialism with Chinese characteristics's market economy needs modern commercial law to achieve economic goals and promote economic development.
At present, there are laws to follow in China's commodity trading activities, and market regulators and personnel should also promptly supervise law enforcement and severely punish illegal trading and price fraud. Just like in recent days, many market supervision administrations have investigated and dealt with businesses that sell masks and cabbages at high prices according to law.
Our food, clothing, housing and transportation are inseparable from the sale of goods. Whether we are consumers or sellers, we are all members of market transactions. Only when everyone participates in market transactions according to laws and regulations can we build a good market order.