In ancient China, the law was based on the will of the monarch, who always held the supreme legislative power of the country. All laws and regulations are promulgated in the name of the monarch. Imperial edicts often become laws directly, and emperors can amend or abolish any laws.
The emperor also has the highest judicial power, and all serious cases, important cases, doubtful cases and all death penalty cases (after Sui and Tang Dynasties) must be ruled and approved by the emperor. The emperor can use extra-legal punishment or show extra-legal mercy and pardon any criminal.
Take ethics as the guiding principle
Law takes ethics as its guiding principle and theoretical basis.
Under this principle, many contents of the ceremony were directly determined as laws, and the "seven taboos and three taboos", "eight discussions" and the mourning system became laws one after another, which were followed by later codes. Ethics advocates "no litigation" and "no litigation", which also causes people's awareness of rights to be very indifferent.
Take criminal law as the main punishment
The main punishment of law is criminal law, which has always been the theme of ancient laws in China. In ancient times, there was no division of departmental laws. All previous codes-laws were generally called criminal laws, and all kinds of illegal and criminal acts in various fields of social life were stipulated here, collectively called crimes and punished. In a law, there is no distinction between substantive law and procedural law, civil litigation and criminal litigation are mixed, and testimony and confession are treated equally. On the other hand, autocratic monarchs ignore the rights of their subjects, and ordinary people have no such consciousness. They are ashamed and tired of going to court. General civil disputes have nothing to do with the overall situation of political security, and the commodity economy is underdeveloped for a long time. As a result, the ancient civil legislation in China was relatively dry, which was in sharp contrast with the criminal law.
"Speak in the Constitution of God"
The judiciary is subordinate to the executive emperor, who has the highest judicial power in the country. Although the central authorities have set up judicial organs in all previous dynasties, important ministers who assisted the emperor, such as Nakazawa Tomohide, Prime Minister, Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister, can completely ask about the judiciary. The chief executive of some central administrative agencies can also intervene or participate in the administration of justice, while the chief judicial officer generally has no right to ask about administration. At the local level, the chief executive of a place is also in charge of judicial trials at the same level.
Whether the prison proceedings are fair or not has been one of the main items to evaluate the achievements of local officials since the Han Dynasty.