According to the Book of Han and the Chronicle of the Criminal Law, the Law decrees 359 chapters, 49 articles, 1,882 events, and 1,3472 deaths. The documents are in several cabinets, and the pawnbrokers cannot see them all. "Let me introduce you to the main legal forms of the Han Dynasty.
1. Law
The law, equivalent to the "code" of later generations, was called xx punishment in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou periods before the Qin. Law is a relatively stable and the most important form of law. It is recorded in the "Order of laws" quoted in volume 638 of the Taiping Imperial Records: It can be known that the "law" is the basic basis for conviction and sentencing. The more famous ones are the "Nine Chapters Law" formulated by Xiao He, the chancellor after the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty; and the "Law of the Pong Chapters" formulated by Shusun Tong on the imperial sphere. In addition, there are "laws" of a similar nature to the "law", such as the "Shen Ming Law" promulgated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
2. Order
Order refers to the emperor's edict. This refers to the edicts issued by the emperor according to his needs. Because it is the will of the emperor, its legal effect often exceeds that of the "law", which can replace the relevant provisions of the "law". At that time, there were many "orders", and it is known that during the time of Emperor Xuan of Han, because there were too many edicts, they had to be sorted into three books: "Ling A", "Ling B", and "Ling C". At the same time, the "order" also covers various aspects, such as the "Palace Guard Order" that stipulates the emperor's guards; the "Order of the Court Lieutenant" that stipulates the trial procedure, and so on. It is one of the important sources of Han law. Du Zhou, the author of the "Du Law", said: "The former Lord's Office was written as the Law, and the Later Lord's House was neglected as an order, and at that time it was, he gu's law! ”
3. Than
。 "Ratio" is the meaning of precedent, which is a typical precedent used for reference when adjudicating a case. Therefore, the ratio is also known as the "decisive ratio". The Book of Sonatas, unearthed in the 1980s at the Han Tomb in Zhangjiashan, Hubei Province, is a collection of precedents, the same as "Bi".
4. Legally annotated works
This was introduced in the previous article, "The Legalization of Confucianism in the Han Dynasty", because of Dong Zhongshu's "Spring and Autumn Prison Break", a large number of works that used Confucian classics to annotate laws and make laws conform to Confucianism were born, and such books are legal annotated works. For example, Zheng Xuan's "Zheng Zhang sentence" was affirmed by the emperor and had legislative significance, and the annotation of Zheng Shi Zhang sentence became a legal form; also du zhou and Du Yannian's father and son made notes to explain the "Han Law" "Du Lu" and "Xiao Du Lu", which became the basis for judicial practice at that time.
5. The Spring and Autumn Classic
Dong Zhongshu's "Spring and Autumn Prison Sentence" used the relevant examples and moral principles in the Spring and Autumn Period to judge the case when encountering a case related to righteousness and morality, which was inconsistent with the current law or did not exist in the current law. The Spring and Autumn Classics became a unique legal form that overrode the existing laws, and no existing law could violate the moral principles in the Spring and Autumn Classics, and Dong Zhongshu received the absolute support of the imperial power, infiltrating Confucianism into judicial practice and also into legislative practice. With the development of the "Spring and Autumn Prison Break", other Confucian classics are also known as important quasi-ascensions to solve cases, which led to the rise of the fourth point, the use of Confucian annotated legal works. "Spring and Autumn", like the status of the "Constitution", other "laws", "orders", and "ratios" are all in line with Confucian norms.
