The Legal System of Cautious Punishment in Ancient China

Today's highlight: in ancient times, Emperor Taizong ruled the world with benevolence, which influenced East Asia at that time.

Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "worshiped Confucianism alone", Confucianism was the dominant ideology for most of the feudal period in China, which had a very important influence on the ruling policy of the feudal landlord class. On the legislative level, Confucianism regards the thought of cautious punishment as an important conceptual basis to realize legal value. We can think that the thought of cautious punishment is the crystallization of China's ancient legal wisdom and the sprout of humanitarianism in the development of China's ancient legal system.

Definition of "prudent punishment"

The most classic exposition of the thought of "cautious punishment" is that "the suspected crime is lighter and the merits and demerits are heavier" mentioned in Shangshu. It is better to lose than to kill. "It pointed out that when dealing with suspicious cases, crimes should be treated leniently; If you find any doubt when rewarding your merits, you should give it a heavier reward. It is better to be lenient than to kill innocent people by mistake. It can be said that this thought is the embodiment of China's unprincipled suspicion of ancient law.

Generally speaking, "cautious punishment" means that when handling cases, judicial organs should treat cases carefully, make judgments carefully, strictly enforce penalties, act according to law, and not bend the law. If you don't know the facts of the case, you can't arrest the suspect at will, and even if you arrest the suspect, you can't easily convict and sentence in this case; It is inevitable that the judicial organs will have some discretionary space when they are convicted and sentenced, so in such a "legal blank", the judicial organs should treat it lightly from the perspective of respecting facts and taking care of people's feelings.

(B) the historical development of "cautious punishment"

The thought of cautious punishment had developed in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and experienced the precipitation of the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, which became the principle followed by successive dynasties. It is of great significance for us to clarify the development and evolution of the thought of "cautious punishment" and trace it back to its source.

The thought of cautious punishment can be said to be a great progress in China's legal history. On the basis of fully summarizing the reasons for the demise of Xia and Shang Dynasties, the rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty had a deeper understanding of the protective function of law and its implementation methods. Confucius believes that the thought of the Western Zhou Dynasty is based on the thought of the previous dynasty and has the value of careful consideration. Moral education is the most important strategy for governing the country, but it is not enough to govern the country by virtue alone, and it also needs the assistance of punishment. If politicians can be careful with punishment, then the people can benefit from it.

On the basis of the thought of "knowing morality and being cautious about punishment" in the Western Zhou Dynasty, Confucius particularly emphasized the function of etiquette, governed the people by laws, and advocated relying on etiquette to make the people truly convinced, so as to achieve the purpose that punishment alone did not have. Therefore, politicians not only don't have to use the cruel punishment of murder, but also should be cautious. On the basis of inheriting the legalist thought, Cao Cao in the Three Kingdoms period integrated the Confucian concept of "combination of etiquette and law", attached importance to the role of law and established the authority of law. From the period of Emperor Taizong, the principle of cautious punishment was established in the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin put forward "ruling the world with leniency, and using criminal law with caution". The legal system in the Sui Dynasty was corrupt and the people were miserable. The once glorious Sui Dynasty soon fell into disrepair. Feeling this, Emperor Taizong decided to rule the world with benevolence, hoping to achieve long-term stability in the world.

After Li Shimin ascended the throne, the compilation and perfection of military moral law was immediately put on the agenda. In the editing process, Wei Zhi's suggestion of "attaching importance to benevolence and being cautious about punishment" has been well reflected, and the legislative principle of "morality dominates punishment and auxiliary punishment" has been further deepened through the implementation of benevolent policies. Fifty-two "harsh" clauses were deleted, 92 death penalty clauses were reduced to 765,438+0, and the rest were changed to "lighter, invincible discipline". The legislative principles and judicial ideas in the Tang Dynasty occupied an extremely important position in the long history of ancient laws, which not only had guiding significance for the legislative revision of penalties in later generations, but also influenced the legislation of East Asian countries at that time.

abstract

The thought of cautious punishment embodies the humanitarian spirit of respecting life and caring for people's feelings. Although it was involved in ancient Chinese laws, at that time, China society was under the rule mode of feudal monarchy, and the rule of man was very strong. The execution of the law is not based on the provisions of the law, but on the will of the monarch, which largely leads to the fact that some provisions on cautious punishment have become a dead letter and cannot be well implemented.