Time: 2011-03-17 Author: News Source: Huzhou Procuratorial Name: Big | Middle | Small
Yangdongjiang
1. Reasons for Criminal System Reform in Early Han Dynasty
1. 1 The root cause of the criminal system reform in the early Han Dynasty
Emperor Wendi's abolition of corporal punishment was not simply moved by his filial daughter's words and deeds, but related to the whole form of the early Han Dynasty, which was caused by the shortage of labor at that time. During the reign of Emperor Wendi, the social economy of the Western Han Dynasty began to prosper, the social order was relatively stable, and the further development of social productive forces required a large number of labor. The prosperity of society, the increasing luxury of landlords and nobles, and the need to exploit more property from farmers all require an increase in the number of labor available for exploitation, and corporal punishment makes criminals lose their labor, which is the real reason why Emperor Wen abolished corporal punishment.
Emperor Wen of Han advocated inaction, and besides abolishing corporal punishment, he also carried out penal reform. He thinks that some legal provisions made by Emperor Gaozu are more harsh than those made by Qin. The law stipulates that a person who breaks the law and implicates his parents, wife and children is not conducive to the country and should be changed. Due to the insistence of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, imperial edicts were issued to abolish the law of sharing seats and reduce other punishments. Emperor Wen's penalty reform has achieved good social effects.
1.2 The direct cause of the criminal system reform in the early Han Dynasty
The reform of penalty system started in the 13th year of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty was directly caused by a letter written by Ti Ying. [3] Ti Ying's father was guilty of corporal punishment, and Ti Ying wrote to the emperor, complaining about the disadvantages of corporal punishment, such as "although the torturer wants to turn over a new leaf in the future, there is no reason", and he is willing to accept punishment as a courtier to redeem his father. Emperor Wen was very moved when he learned that, that is, he ordered the minister to draw up specific measures to reform the old penalty system.
2. The content of criminal system reform in the early Han Dynasty
The reform of the penalty system in the early Han dynasty was mainly carried out on the Qin law. In order to correct the tyranny and cruelty of the legal system in the Qin Dynasty, guided by the spirit of "benevolent government", the Han Dynasty abolished many cool corporal punishment laws, gradually abolished the corporal punishment that had been followed for more than 2,000 years, made the punishment relatively civilized, determined the standard of criminal responsibility, conformed to the economic and social development at that time, and played a positive role.
2. 1 Abolish corporal punishment
Zhang Cang, the prime minister, and Feng Jing, an ancient scholar, put forward a concrete reform plan to abolish corporal punishment, which mainly replaced corporal punishment such as beating, cutting off the left toe and cutting off the right toe with imprisonment, flogging and death penalty. Change flogging to clamp punishment, flogging to 300, amputation of left toe to 500, amputation of right toe to death, and determine fixed-term imprisonment accordingly. Although this reform has replaced flogging, flogging, cutting off the left toe, cutting off the right toe and other corporal punishments with imprisonment and flogging, there are too many flogging times, and in fact, people are often flogged to death, so people have commented that "there are light punishments outside, but there are real murderers inside". Therefore, in the first year of Emperor Jingdi, flogging was reduced twice, and then reform was carried out. The original flogging of 300 was finally set at 100, and the left toe was cut at 500, which was set at 200, and a "decree" was issued to determine the instruments, execution methods and restrictions of punishment. [④] It is also stipulated that [⑤]: The bamboo board is five feet long, one inch wide, the end is half an inch thin, and the bamboo joints are flattened; The hitting part is the hip, and no substitution is allowed during the hitting. In this way, the harm of flogging to the body is reduced, and the number of flogging victims is also reduced. Another content of the reform of the penalty system in the early Han Dynasty was to specify the term of imprisonment. Previously, all punishments were life imprisonment. After the reform, life imprisonment finally became fixed-term imprisonment. In addition, the reform also abolished the law of accepting the dead and the crime of libel. This reform makes the punishment from barbarism to relative civilization, protects the labor force to a certain extent, and is conducive to the development of social productive forces. In addition, the penalty reform also laid the foundation for the later establishment of the feudal five-penalty system, such as slap, stick, apprentice, exile and death penalty.
2.2 Kiss each other first.
The Qin Dynasty pursued the "rule of law" in order to maintain the unified legal order of the country, reward traitors and severely punish them. Different from the Qin dynasty, the Han dynasty established the criminal legal principle of "kissing first" according to Confucian patriarchal ethics. The so-called concealment between relatives means that three generations of blood and his husband and wife, except for committing treason and rebellion, should protect each other and not report to the court; The law does not hold relatives criminally responsible for concealing crimes. Specifically, the principle of "kiss first and then hide" includes the following contents: (1) humble the young and hide the long, without criminal responsibility; Respect for the elderly and neglect of the young, except for the death penalty, is not criminally responsible. Since Xuan Di, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, it has become one of the important criminal legal principles in ancient China, which was followed by later feudal dynasties.
2.3 Pension
In order to correct the tyranny of the legal system in the Qin dynasty, the Han dynasty established the principle of kindness and punishment under the guidance of the spirit of "benevolent government", and took care of the old, young, old, women and children, the sick and the disabled in conviction and sentencing. The principle of kindness and punishment in Han Dynasty is mainly because the rulers think that the sick, the disabled, the old and the young are not harmful to feudal rule, and lenient treatment can not only win the reputation of "benevolent government", but also affect the stability of social order.
2.4 Age of criminal responsibility
The Qin law determines the criminal responsibility ability by height, while the Han dynasty does not determine the criminal responsibility ability by height, but by age. This change makes the system of criminal responsibility ability more scientific. The laws of the Han Dynasty stipulated the minimum age and the maximum age of criminal responsibility, and generally did not bear criminal responsibility for minors who committed crimes below the minimum age. Among the elderly, those who are over the highest age of responsibility do not bear criminal responsibility, which reflects the caring spirit of respecting the elderly and loving the young.
2.5 Please go up.
The so-called "appealing to the emperor" refers to a system in which bureaucrats, nobles and their descendants commit crimes within a certain range, and should not be handed over to the general judicial organs for handling, but should appeal to the emperor for ruling. The system of seeking help is the requirement of the Confucian principle of "respect" and the concrete embodiment of the principle of "punishment is not superior to doctor". In the Han Dynasty, from Emperor Han Ping, Xuan Di and Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were imperial edicts on the system of asking for instructions, and the scope of the privilege of asking for instructions gradually expanded from the first-class officials in the early Han Dynasty to almost all officials in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
3. Evaluation of criminal system reform in the early Han Dynasty
The reform of the penal system abolished corporal punishment for more than two thousand years, which made the penalty move towards relative civilization. This is a great historical progress in the reform of China's ancient penal system, which is of positive significance. However, as a reform of the feudal penalty system, its purpose is to maintain feudal rule, so it must have its limitations. 3. 1 Limitations of Criminal System Reform in Early Han Dynasty
The limitation of penalty reform in Wenjing period is that cruel corporal punishment has not been completely abolished. For example, castration, as one of the important punishments of corporal punishment, has not been explicitly abolished or replaced in this reform. At the same time, right toe amputation resumed shortly after the reform. It should be said that Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty abolished flogging, flogging and other corporal punishment that had been practiced for more than two thousand years since the Xia Dynasty, which was a great historical progress in the reform of the ancient penalty system in China and had positive significance. However, according to the criminal law of Hanshu, this measure still has great problems and is called benevolent government by later generations. Because "those who cut off their right toes will die again, those who cut off their left toes will lose 500 yuan, and those who cut off their left toes will lose 300 yuan, resulting in more deaths." That is, the right toe should have been cut off, but after the reform, it all became the death penalty, which obviously aggravated the punishment; Whipping is used instead of whipping and digging out the left toe. Many prisoners were killed in the process of punishment because of too many flogging times. Therefore, the Criminal Records of Han Dynasty accused Wendi of abolishing corporal punishment as "killing people in the name of light punishment". On the basis of Emperor Wen's abolition of corporal punishment, Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty continued to carry out reforms, mainly to alleviate it. Emperor Jing wrote a letter saying: Jia Jia is no different from a felony. Fortunately, he won't die and can't be a man. Its rule: 500 days, 300 days, 300 days, 200 days. But even so, the prisoner's life cannot be saved. So, in the sixth year of Emperor Jingdi, that is, BC 144, another imperial edict was issued: those who aggravated the punishment or did not finish it until their death, and I am very sorry for this. Will reduce 300 days, 200 days, 200 days 100 days. At the same time, the "basket order" was formulated, which stipulated that the basket was five feet long, one inch larger than its base, and the bamboo pole at the end was half an inch thinner, all of which were flat. When you are a beggar, you are a beggar. If you don't find more people, you need more people to complete a crime. Emperor Jingdi's Zanling unified the length and thickness of instruments of torture, stipulated that only the buttocks of criminals could be punished, and stipulated that no substitution was allowed during execution. This reform makes the prisoner get everything, but there are still some disadvantages, such as "cruel officials still think that the death penalty is heavy, but life imprisonment is light, and the people are easy to commit crimes". [ 14]
3.2 Significance of Criminal System Reform in Early Han Dynasty
The reform of criminal system in the early Han Dynasty not only had a great impact on the society at that time, but also maintained feudal rule and promoted the development of productive forces, and had a far-reaching impact on the criminal system in later generations and even in China. Today, when the judicial system is relatively perfect, there are still many experiences and successes in this successful criminal system reform that are worth learning and learning from.
3.2. 1 Historical Significance of Criminal System Reform in Early Han Dynasty
The reform of the penalty system in the early Han Dynasty made great contributions to the history of penalty development in China. The penalty system in Qin dynasty was obviously transitional, with corporal punishment coexisting with various kinds of free punishment, which was not standardized and lacked reasonable steps. Corporal punishment was originally the punishment of slavery, and it was still used in the early Han Dynasty, which was a reflection of the remnants of slavery in the penalty system. The abolition of corporal punishment by Emperor Wenjing conforms to the trend of historical development and is conducive to protecting social productive forces. Although in the process of reforming criminals, there have been some repetitions or even retrogression in some fields; For example, the right toe penalty is changed to death penalty and the game is abandoned, from light to heavy; Castration was abolished, but it was later restored; Wait, but these are tributaries after all. The abolition of corporal punishment made the punishment in ancient China become relatively civilized from barbarism and cruelty. The reform of punishment system in Kawabata Yasunari period not only abolished corporal punishment such as flogging, but also established a feudal punishment system with imprisonment and flogging as the main body. Since then, corporal punishment, as the main feature of the early penalty system, is no longer the object of punishment, and cruel corporal punishment is no longer accepted in concept. In the feudal penalty system, imprisonment and flogging began to become the main body of punishment, and they were constantly improved and systematized. The penalty system of Emperor Wendi, Emperor Jingdi and later dynasties experienced many changes, and finally formed the feudal five-penalty system in China during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It can be said that the reform of criminal system in Wenjing period is a milestone for China's ancient law to transcend barbarism and move towards civilization.
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2. The main contents of the penalty reform in the early Han Dynasty.
Academic circles generally believe that the reform of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty has two contents. One is to abolish the law of taking seats, the other is to abolish corporal punishment and stipulate the term of reeducation through labor accordingly.
In this way, the two are very similar, but in fact, criminal law reform is a part of criminal system reform.