Friends who often watch costume TV series will often find that there is such a department in the TV series: Dali Temple. When I didn’t understand it, I didn’t know what it was. I always thought it was a temple, probably in the Dali area.
However, as I read more and more history books, I realized that Dali Temple was not the temple I imagined. On the contrary, it belonged to a criminal organization and was very powerful.
We know that after Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system, the six ministers were directly responsible to the emperor. The power of the Six Ministers also began to expand further. At that time, there was even a jingle like this: "The officials are in charge of affairs, the court oversees affairs, the temples handle affairs, and they supervise miscellaneous affairs?"
This sentence illustrates the great power of the Ministry of Punishment. However, at that time, the power of Dali Temple could almost rival the power of the Ministry of Punishment. It is foreseeable that the power of Dali Temple can only be as high as it is.
So, what exactly is this mysterious "Dali Temple"? Dali Temple? What kind of existence is it? Why is it called? Dali Temple? It sounds like the name of a monastery.
The origin of Dali Temple
In fact, the function of Dali Temple in ancient times was like the Supreme Court today. It was responsible for hearing and summarizing judicial cases over the years. It was the highest judicial institution in ancient China. One, and the meaning of Dali Temple is not the meaning of temple.
The ancients said: Palm punishment is called Shi, and it is also called Sun? Temple? , the imperial court also. There are laws and regulations. All the officials and courts called it the temple. Then Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty added another big character on this basis, which means Dali Temple, which means the prison of heavenly officials and nobles is called Dali. Therefore, those who can enter the Dali Temple Prison are either rich or noble people, while ordinary criminals The case was handed over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for trial.
Of course, there was no such title during the Qin and Han dynasties. During the Qin and Han dynasties, Dali Temple also had another name: the imperial court was the highest judicial organ of the country. San Gong is one of them. Fu Jun was one of the three princes at that time, and he was definitely a high-ranking official at that time.
In the Northern Dynasties, the Northern Qi Dynasty changed the original position of Tingwei to Dali Temple. Dali Temple?
Dali Temple has become one of the three major judicial centers in the country, along with the Ministry of Punishment and Taichang Temple. The highest official of Dali Temple is the Minister of Dali Temple, which is a third-rank official. There are also the Minister of Dali Temple and the Cheng of Dali Temple. Officials waiting to assist.
The original intention of establishing Dali Temple was also to prevent the judicial power from being entirely controlled by the Ministry of Punishment. At that time, local officials had very powerful powers. Once they signed in red pen, it was equivalent to signing the life and death of the prisoner. Therefore, in In ancient times, in order to prevent unjust, false and wrong cases from happening, the Dali Temple was established outside the Ministry of Punishment to compile criminal cases over the years. Once an unjust, false or wrong case was discovered, it could be reported to the emperor immediately. Immediately report to the emperor, and then exercise the powers of the Sansi Yamen.
The relationship between Dali Temple, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate (Duprocuratorate)
In fact, many of our judicial systems now have shadows of ancient times, such as current supervision and trials. They are separate, just like in ancient times. Dali Temple, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate (after the Ming Dynasty, the Metropolitan Procuratorate was renamed the Metropolitan Procuratorate) were the three highest judicial institutions in the country at that time. They could also be called the Three Law Divisions. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, The period was called "Six Gates" during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
"Liumen" is the name of the judicial institutions in the Ming and Qing dynasties. "Liumen" is the name of the judicial institutions in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
In ancient times, the three departments performed their own duties. The Criminal Department was responsible for hearing cases, the Dali Temple was responsible for reviewing cases, and the Procuratorate supervised the two departments. The purpose of this was to check each other and avoid the excessive power of one department. Large, leading to the occurrence of unjust, false and wrongful convictions.
Of course, the Minister of Dali Temple still lacks a head in the name of Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, because the Minister of Dali Temple is a third-rank official, and the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment was a second-rank official in ancient times, but it cannot withstand the power of the Minister of Dali Temple. Although the rank Not high, but he still has the power of the prefect, and once the minister of Dali Temple has questions about the case and can raise them, the people from the Ministry of Punishments will report to the emperor, and the emperor will raise them again? The third judicial review?
Its purpose is to prevent a large number of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases. In other words, Dali Temple is the last line of defense for justice. As long as Dali Temple disagrees with the judgment, it proves that you still have a chance of survival.
As the ministers of Dali Temple fell into the hands of mediocre people in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Dali Temple also lost its original authority. This led to a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. As a result, the original three-legged situation was gradually divided between the Ministry of Justice and the Academy, and Dali Temple could only do simple grading work in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.