In the legal history of China, Deng was also regarded as a "great popularity", and several "firsts" were occupied by him: the first openly opposed the "rule of courtesy" since the Western Zhou Dynasty; For the first time, he put forward the view that "things are decided by law"; Edited the first lynching book-bamboo punishment. Of course, most of these "firsts" are still hearsay and difficult to determine. However, another "first" is highly credible, that is, he is the first well-documented litigator in the history of China.
Lawyers in China have a history of less than 100 years, and they are all imported. Before that, there was a class of people in ancient China whose occupation was to help others handle lawsuits. Such people are called "litigators". The litigator has been supported by the government and not tolerated by public opinion, but he survived after all. If we want to trace back to the source, their ancestor is Deng.
Lv Chunqiu/Li Jue contains:
"Deng" made an agreement with people who have prisons: a big prison is a dress, and a small prison is a slap. There are countless people who offer clothes to learn to sue. Take right and wrong, right and wrong, right and wrong are excessive, but they can and cannot be changed day by day. Win if you want to win; If you want to lose, lose.
With his familiarity with the law, Deng not only guided others to go to court in the form of compensation, but even set the charging standard. This kind of behavior, similar to that of modern lawyers, is the essence of ancient litigators.
The ancients always had a fear of litigation, which was mainly due to the arbitrariness of the judiciary and the official monopoly of litigation, which made the litigants isolated and helpless. Another reason is that the parties lack basic legal knowledge, so they regard litigation as a daunting and unpredictable road. Therefore, on the one hand, Deng's behavior provided much-needed legal help for many litigants. The phrase "numerous litigators" shows the popularity of Deng's behavior among the people, and also provides thought-provoking materials for us to explain the strange phenomenon that ancient litigators did not disappear under the official attack and moral condemnation.
The key to litigation lies in distinguishing right from wrong, but the standard of right from wrong varies from person to person. The standards of officials and people are often very different, and the words of historians are inevitably influenced by orthodoxy. Therefore, the so-called "taking right as wrong, taking right as wrong" can only explain Deng's refutation, and should never be used as the basis for determining that Deng deliberately reversed right and wrong. Obviously, politics and law in the Spring and Autumn Period were autocratic. Deng participated in the lawsuit as a citizen, and there is no possibility of controlling the success or failure of the lawsuit by distorting right and wrong. The reason why he "wants to win, he wins; I'm afraid the root cause is that on the one hand, he knows the law like the back of his hand (he personally compiled the torture book), on the other hand, he is an eloquent speaker, "if you are ambiguous, you don't have to make textual research", and his eloquence is not sophistry. In Xunzi, Deng called the lie "everything happens for a reason and makes sense". "
There is a passage in "Lu Chunqiu/Li Jue", which accords with Deng's talent and wit as a litigant:
The lake is very big, and someone in Zheng Zhifu drowned. People get their death, rich people demand redemption, and people demand a lot of money. Deng Tian: "Peace. They must not sell it. "When the deceased suffered, he told Deng, and Deng replied," It's safe. There is nothing to buy. "
One thing, starting from different positions, can grasp the key of both sides. This is only the footnote of "ambiguous statement", and it is also the basic skill of litigation lawyers to make a living. Some people may criticize Deng's behavior from the perspective of morality and human feelings, but we don't hope so.