Changes of Criminal Legislation in Qing Dynasty

On the basis of inheriting the previous ruling experience, the Qing Dynasty adjusted the penalty application system, mainly including:

(1) Expand the scope of application of surrender. For example, Kangxi's "Regulations on Supervision and Arrest" encourages fugitives to "surrender themselves", and they can still be exempted from punishment after escaping for three times; During the reign of Jiaqing, those prisoners who escaped from prison for some reason and returned by themselves were punished according to the original charges.

(2) Impose heavier punishment on family members who commit crimes. Any family member who commits rape, theft or injury, regardless of obedience, shall be punished as a first-time offender.

(3) The analogy examination and approval system shall be implemented. The Qing law restricted the legal analogy of the Tang law, stipulating that although analogy can be made, it must be reported to the emperor for approval and no judgment can be made without authorization.

(4) the territorial jurisdiction of the case outside the case. On the charge of "turning foreigners into foreigners", the Qing law abandoned the principle that the Tang law applied to the territory and the person respectively, and changed it to "whoever turns foreigners into criminals shall be sentenced according to law." After the Qing dynasty entered the customs, in order to maintain the autocratic monarchy and suppress the anti-Qing sentiment of Han intellectuals, the policy of heavy punishment and high pressure was vigorously promoted.

First of all, the Qing law increased the punishment for treason, rebellion and robbery. Anyone who breaks the law, regardless of his head, will be put to death in * * * *, and all men who live together over the age of 16 will be beheaded. /kloc-Families of men and women under 0/5 will confiscate the hero's home as slaves. The uninformed children and grandchildren of the crime of year-end survived, but they were all sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for castration and sent to Xinjiang as slaves. Children under the age of ten were also imprisoned until they were castrated at the age of eleven. The Qing law also expanded the scope of treason and treason. For example, if a book says something inappropriate or commits a taboo, it will often be punished as a felony; Those who "advocate the establishment of cults" and "fabricate fallacies and heresies" are sentenced to rebellion and treason by analogy; People with different surnames became brothers with different surnames and were also convicted of treason. For the crime of robbery, the Qing law stipulated that anyone who got money, regardless of his head, would be beheaded; At the same time, there are also acts of killing and arson, raping people's wives and daughters, robbing prison warehouses, and infringing on the city's yamen. , and if more than 100 people, whether they share wealth or not, they will be displayed (hanging their heads); Who is a horse thief, holding a bow and arrow, inviting robbery during the day, and the stolen goods prove white, regardless of the number, show it; Cross-city robbery, gang robbery, official hall robbery, oil tanker robbery, grain ship sailor robbery and murder, etc. , will also be displayed.

Secondly, the rulers of the Qing dynasty also created a large number of literary prisons, convicted by language and characters, and exercised ideological control over Han intellectuals. According to incomplete statistics, only three generations of Kang, Yong and Gan had more than 100 literary prisons, and innocent people were often killed on trumped-up charges. For example, Kangxi's famous case of Zhuang Ming history: Zhejiang Zhuang Tingqian privately carved the Ming history, used the Nanming year number, and called Nurhachi the governor of Jianzhou, but was accused of disrespecting the Zhengshuo of the Qing Dynasty. At the time of committing the crime, Zhuang himself was dead and was still opening an autopsy. More than 70 people, including Zhu and his family, who wrote the preface, carved books, bought books and failed to find out the local officials, were all executed. The famous case of Justine in Yongzheng period: Jiangxi examiner Justine took "Wei Minting" as the imperial examination topic, which was considered as the bane of "Yongzheng beheading" and was executed on charges. The case of Hu Zhongzao's poems during the Qianlong period: There was a sentence in Hu Zhongzao's poems, such as "a heart is turbid and water is clear", which was considered as a satire on state politics and was also executed. It can be seen that most cases of literary inquisition in Qing Dynasty are far-fetched and suspicious of Luo Zhi. The root cause of the literary inquisition is that the rulers of Qing Dynasty strengthened their autocracy, and most of the cases involved their most taboo problem of "preventing summer invasion", lest Han scholars regard it as "dissidents" invading summer. As a result, thought, culture and public opinion are stifled, and the normal development of academics is hindered.