What are the characteristics of the laws of Western countries? That is, it is greatly influenced by doctrine. What about ancient Chinese law? Undoubtedly, it contains more of the principle ethics of kings and subjects. In the 5,000 years of China, the ancient law has developed very well, and it can fully cover people's eating, drinking, and sleeping. Here we will talk about the things that the ancients sued.
As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, our ancients had a clear system of complaints. Of course, it was aimed at the nobles and commoners, and slaves were not eligible to sue. Western Zhou that is impossible to "write paper", they have two better methods.
Method 1: Called the "lung stone system". What exactly is "lung stone"? I don't know, I know that it is placed at the entrance of the official palace, just a big red stone, shaped like a "lung". If you have any grievances, stand on the lung stone and wait for three or two days, and when the magistrate arrives here, he will accept your case.
Method two, called the "road drum system". There is a big drum standing outside the official palace, you have to file a complaint, just knock hard a few times, and the officials will come to you when they hear it.
The Western Zhou Dynasty made a good start, and these two methods of directly listening to complaints were inherited by later dynasties. Of course, the later dynasties' regulations on complaints became more and more detailed. Or else, everyone is all right, and even more come to beat the drum in the middle of the night, then the officials can't sleep?
Therefore, after the county system of the Qin Dynasty, small cases were filed in the county government, and large cases were filed in the county or the central government. Cases are not tried every day, such as live fights and beatings of dead people, and then you can file a complaint. In general, there are fixed days per month, which is the day of acceptance of complaints.
There is no clear record of when in ancient times there were "complaints" or "complaints". The "pleadings" are equivalent to the plaintiff's indictment or the defendant's complaint. However, when Liu Hengshi, the Emperor of Han Wen, was undoubtedly already considered to have a precedent of "complaint".
The famous doctor Chun Yu resigned from the government to practice medicine, encountered medical trouble, falsely accused him of being dead, and looked like he was about to be punished. His daughter Ti Qian wrote to the emperor, saying that whether it was a violation of the law or not, people could not be resurrected from the dead, and severed limbs could not be picked up. And if Chun Yuyi suffers punishment for this, he will lose the opportunity to reform forever. For this reason, the daughter's willingness to punish her father gives him the opportunity to become a man again.
The three major corporal punishments of the Han Dynasty: stabbing the face, cutting off the nose, and stomping the feet, these are either death or disability. Ti Qian's "shangshu" undoubtedly impressed Emperor Wen of Han. Not only did Chun Yuyi be spared punishment, but emperor Wen of Han also saw the cruelty of corporal punishment and abolished corporal punishment. In the Han Dynasty, paper was not popular at that time, and the usual complaints should not have appeared before "complaints" and "complaint papers". Chun Yuyi was undoubtedly a large family, and only then did he have the opportunity to write to the emperor (bamboo simple and 帛書 are possible).
In the Han Dynasty, there were many inconvenient complaints in oral complaints. For example, for a long-running case, the complainant may forget the details of the case. In addition, if the government wants to retry the old case, then there will undoubtedly be omissions in the case.
In the Tang Dynasty, it was clear that there was a special provision that the person who filed the complaint must write a complaint (complaint paper). If you want to bid farewell to someone, you must at least make clear the causes and consequences of the grievances, the time, the place, the names of the people, and whoever did what they did--the words are unfounded, and the words are based on evidence. If you are making false accusations, the complaint (complaint paper) is your false accusation evidence.
So I'm illiterate and can't sue yet? Wise people have long thought that the Song Dynasty had literati students who specialized in helping people write complaints. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born in three generations of civilian poor peasants, knew the suffering of illiteracy. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, special officials were set up to write for the illiterate.
The petty officer listened to the complaint, wrote it and read it to him, clearly and unmistakably, and signed it. As the basis for filing a complaint, adjudicating a case, and reviewing a case.
After the Tang Dynasty, the dynasties and generations gradually improved, and by the Song Dynasty, the basic format of the complaint paper had been formed: the name of the complainant, who was the chief of a certain village in a certain township, where he lived, and a few miles away from the county.
Who to sue, where he lives, and how many miles away from the county he is suing.
The reason for the complaint is: did you steal the chicken, or did you touch the dog? Year, month, day, painting, ask the official to preside over justice.