Hot Trial System: The ancient Chinese system of reducing or bailing criminals in the summer to clear prisons. The "History of the Chinese Legal System" explains the "hot trial system" as follows: Every year after the tenth day of the small full birthday and before the establishment of the autumn, the officials of the Second Temple of the Hercules, together with the officials of the Imperial History and Punishment Department of each province, will try the flogging and war cases that occurred in Gyeonggi and reduce the fall. The purpose is to speed up the trial of flogging cases and avoid the violent death of flogging cane criminals in prison due to the hot weather.
The "hot examination system" has a long history, and the earliest record of it in historical documents comes from the "Li Ji Yue Ling" of the Western Han Dynasty:
"In the month of Lu Xia, the punishment is severe, the minor crimes are decided, and the minor crimes are punished."
The "hot review system" of the Ming and Qing dynasties came from this. In the second year of Ming Yongle, in 1404 AD, he first came out of this system, starting with the decision to dismiss misdemeanors, and the term of leniency and exile below were ordered to be released from prison to listen. During the xianzong chenghua years, there were also cases of serious crimes and suspicions, reduction of penal offenses, release of flogging, and loosening of shackles. The Qing Dynasty was first mentioned since the Shunzhi Dynasty, and was customized in the Kangxi Decade.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the implementation of the legal system became the first system for the Qing Dynasty to rule the Central Plains, and in accordance with the basic concept of the "Qing Chengming System", the Shunzhi Dynasty gradually introduced various judicial procedures and legal systems implemented by the Ming Dynasty. The "hot trial system" as a key place to highlight the benevolence of the feudal emperor, alleviate the additional harm of Xing Prison, and highlight the orthodox rule of the emperor was also well continued by the Qing Dynasty.
The Great Qing Huidian records:
Its example began in the eighth year of Shunzhi. Those who commit serious crimes are suspicious, those who commit misdemeanors are reduced, and those who have nothing to do are released. However, it ended with the execution of the criminal gate in Beijing. Since the tenth year of Shunzhi, he has passed on the edicts at home and abroad, promoted the emperor's benevolence, and every year in the tenth day after the Xiao Manchu, the internal and external provinces have been integrated, and the weight of the examination is deliberated.
It can be seen that in the eighth year of Shunzhi, when the "hot trial system" was first implemented, it was limited to Xing prison prisoners in the Gyeonggi area, and it was not fully implemented until the tenth year of Shunzhi. However, at this time, the "thermal review system" has not been customized, and there is no clear definition of the implementation object and the implementation area. Moreover, compared with the "hot trial system" implemented by the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty only imposed this system on the punishment of flogging sticks, and its scope of implementation was significantly narrower.
Flogging cane punishment
The Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Zhi 190, Punishment III, records:
In the first year of Shunzhi, the Left Attendant Dang Chongya of the Punishment Department said: "In the old system, all the repeat offenders in prisons will never wait for the time to be rebellious and the great thieves, and the rest will be imprisoned and awaiting execution." In Beijing, there are cases of hot trials and court trials, and every time the frost falls, they are asked to be executed. In the provinces directly outside the province, there are also cases of the Autumn Trial of the Three Divisions, and the death penalty has not been discarded in the city. Hope to distinguish as usual, to show mercy. ”
Dang Chongya was the draftsman of the "Supplementary Rules of the Great Qing Dynasty", and was also one of the typical representative figures of the Ming Dynasty officials who first surrendered to the Dashun regime and then surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. These former Ming courtiers played an extremely important role in the formulation of national policies in the Qing Dynasty, especially in the process of following the former Ming laws. The "hot review system" is one of its outstanding contributions to the legal system of the Qing Dynasty.
The Qing Shilu Shizu Shilu records in detail the main reasons why the Shunzhi Emperor ordered the implementation of the "hot trial system":
1. Because of the greatness of the world, those who are imprisoned do not know a number of people. Or death from disease, or death from starvation, or death from torture, or even from the conspiracy of officials to abuse prisoners. And so on. I was overwhelmed by this.
In the sixth year of Shunzhi, when the Shunzhi Emperor was reviewing the Songzhang, he was quite touched by the fact that many of the criminal prisoners who reported in the Songzhang died innocently in Xing prison due to the hot weather, and the Shunzhi Emperor decided to accept the invitation of the officials of the Punishment Department out of "compassion" and implemented the "hot trial system".
2. The governor and inspector shall apply for the prefecture at the right time and time, personally inspect the prefecture and county, and those who have committed previous abuses shall participate in the office separately. The sins of the deceased are deserved, and the rest do not die for no reason, and use the benevolence of the Zhao Imperial Court's legislation.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, anti-Qing ideology and anti-Qing activities in the Central Plains were very frequent, and the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty was very in need of actual governance policies or criminal means to demonstrate the "benevolent" rule of the Qing Government, in order to win over and appease the Han people in the Central Plains, and ultimately achieve the political goal of consolidating the imperial rule.
3, Fang is hot at this time, and even the wind and haze do not rain.
The summer of the sixth year of Shunzhi was very hot and rainy, which was definitely a serious challenge for the living environment of prisoners in prison at that time, because of the influence of the harsh environment in prison, the Shunzhi Emperor had to consider the implementation of the "hot trial" system.
4. There are often cases of hot trials in the previous generation.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it followed the historical precedents in its governing policies and legal systems, especially the relevant institutional provisions of the former Ming Dynasty. As a legal system with a long history, the "hot trial system" was one of the main means of demonstrating the "benevolent government" of the feudal dynasty's rule, and the Qing Dynasty's use of this system met the requirements of the specific political environment at that time.
5. Look up to the virtue of heavenly good life.
During the reign of feudal imperial power, the imperial power's perception of "heaven" and its rule and fooling the people in the name of "heaven" were customary means. The basic role of the "hot trial system" is to speed up the trial and handling of flogging and cane criminals, and fundamentally reduce the additional harm caused to criminals by the harsh environment in prison. Therefore, the Shunzhi Emperor complied with the inspiration of "the virtue of good life in heaven" and implemented the "hot trial system" as one of the important means of rule.
Prison of the Qing Dynasty
As for the explicit establishment of the "hot review system", it is clearly recorded in the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Zhi 19, and Punishment III:
The system of hot trial was held in the early days of Shunzhi. In the tenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, it was determined that from the tenth day after the end of the small full year of each year, until the day before the establishment of the autumn, the amount of non-committed capital crimes and military and exiles would be reduced.
However, the Kangxi Dynasty's "hot trial system" was discontinued in "forty-three years. "In the sixty-first year of the Kangxi Dynasty, after the death of the Kangxi Emperor, the fourth son of the Emperor, Yin Chan, succeeded to the throne as the Yongzheng Emperor. The "hot review system" in the case of "Yongzheng Chu resumed" shows another important role of this system.
In the later years of the Kangxi Dynasty, the fourth son of the Emperor, Yin Chan, did not directly participate in the dispute with other princes to seize the throne, and adopted a curve of thick and thin hair and far-sightedness, so when Long Keduo read the "Testament of the Kangxi Emperor", passing the throne to the fourth son of the Emperor Yin Chan, all the princes and courtiers questioned the legitimacy of his ascension to the throne. Therefore, the Yongzheng Emperor at the beginning of his succession must take all means and measures to prove the legitimacy and legitimacy of his imperial power.
At the beginning of his reign, Yongzheng used the "hot trial system" to complete his rule over the criminal government, and lived here to show the legitimacy of his rule and the legitimacy of succession. This is basically consistent with the political purpose of the Shunzhi Emperor and the Kangxi Emperor to implement the "hot trial system" at the beginning of their reign.
Through the operation and development of the three dynasties of Shunzhi, Kangxi and Yongzheng, the comprehensive national strength and policy system of the Qing Empire under the Qianlong Emperor basically tended to be perfected and matured, and the penal system was regarded as the top priority of the Qing Dynasty's imperial rule. Naturally, it also moves towards a systematic, mature stereotyped state. The "hot trial system" naturally developed into a customization of the Qing Dynasty's penal methods.
Where the hot trial begins on the tenth day after the expiration of the child's birthday , the day before the autumn of the first month of the seventh month ( for example , the autumn of June begins with the day of the New Year of July ) , it is pronounced by the ministry in advance, promulgated at home and abroad, flogging and pardoning, reduction of the staff and shackles, etc., and the prisoner who is above the prison sentence is ordered to be commuted and the prison premises are cleared. However, the thief shall not be allowed to be lenient in case of hot interrogation.
It can be seen from this that the "hot trial system" continued to be promoted by the Qianlong Dynasty has clear requirements and regulations in terms of implementation time, implementation object, and scope of implementation, and compared with the "hot trial system" first implemented by the Shunzhi Dynasty, it has basically become a set of perfect, clear, and mature supporting criminal law systems.
The implementation of the "hot trial system" in the Qing Dynasty was not only an important supplement and improvement of the criminal law, but also had extremely important political significance in clearing up unjust prisons, saving resources and space in prisons, and through the implementation of this "benevolent" prison system, it was of great political significance to further safeguard the imperial rule and highlight the legitimacy of the rule. In addition, the implementation of the "hot review system" is of great significance to social stability.
1. Indirectly mitigate the causes of social unrest caused by famine
The main reason why the ancient feudal society chose to implement the "hot trial system" in the hot summer was that "because of the hot weather, the prisoners who feared crimes drowned, so they repaid the lives of the people." But what is more important is the deep consideration of the feudal ruling class behind the implementation of the system.
Summer is a high incidence period of natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and locust plagues, and the negative actions that have occurred in the summer, especially during the Qing Dynasty, have occurred natural disasters in the summer and caused by natural disasters, such as riots among the victims, have seriously threatened the rule of the feudal imperial power and shaken the foundation of the ruling class. Faced with such a situation, in addition to storing grain for disaster relief and intensifying its efforts after the disaster, the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty must also display the ruling ideology of the imperial court of "ruling the country with benevolence" and "benevolently cherishing the world" from the level of national rule of law.
The poor people after the famine
The starting point of the "hot trial system" is to reduce the additional harm of criminal prisoners in prison, which is itself a very "benevolent" punishment method, which is of great significance for promoting the "benevolent" governing concept of the Qing Dynasty government, and thus extending to the ideological guidance and positive influence of the disaster victims. This is of great significance for reducing riots among disaster victims and for social stability.
In addition, under the guidance of the concept of feudal society that "disasters descend from heaven, all because personnel are not repaired", from the feudal ruling class to the grass-roots people, the understanding of the famine will largely be determined to be the mistake of imperial rule or even the emperor's loss of morality. This requires the ruling class to change the perception of the people with specific means of governance or criminal means after the catastrophe. This is also the important role of the "thermal review system".
2. The "hot trial system" can save prison space and judicial resources for the rapid trial and judgment of light criminals, and provides prerequisites and resources for the next step of strictly punishing crimes
Another important role of the "hot trial system" is to reduce the large occupation of prison resources and judicial resources by light criminals. In the Qing Dynasty, the five-punishment system of "flogging, cane, discipleship, flow, and death" was implemented, and the "hot trial system" was aimed at the first two of the five punishment systems, because their crimes were lighter and wider, so the number of prisoners for these two crimes was the largest of the five punishments. The implementation of the "hot trial system" can greatly reduce the large occupation of prison space by these two types of criminals, reduce the unnecessary use of judicial resources, and provide an absolute basis for further pressure to crack down on criminals and provide judicial interrogation and detention space.
Interior view of a Qing Dynasty prison
The "hot trial system", which was used on the basis of historical precedents, especially the legal system of the former Ming Dynasty, was of extremely great practical significance to the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty in terms of demonstrating the emperor's benevolence and ruling the country with benevolence, in safeguarding imperial rule and reducing anti-Qing and anti-Qing activities, in saving prison resources and better cracking down on criminals. Because the system faces the strict definition of the type of criminals, the time and region of implementation, far from affecting the seriousness and fairness of the Qing Dynasty's criminal law, it is of great significance for strictly cracking down on criminals and maintaining the authority of the law.
References: "Great Qing Huidian , Volume 43 , Punishment Department " , Li Ji , Moon Order " , Qing History Manuscript , Zhi 190 Punishment III " Qing Shi Lu " Qing Shi Lu " Qing Shi Lu " Shang Shu " Shang Shu " Qing Shi Lu " Qing Shi Lu " Qing Shi Lu " , " Qing Shi Lu Shi Lu " Shi Zong Shi Lu " , " Ming Dynasty Judicial Examination " Chinese Legal History " , " Qing Shi Lie Biography "