The law is the product of our civilized human society, and in order to reflect its coercion, the law must be accompanied by punitive measures, such as the current fixed-term imprisonment, life imprisonment and shooting, all of which are punitive measures. In ancient times, people who broke the law also needed to be punished, but the punishment measures at that time were not as gentle as they are now, the Ten Great Tortures of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were all heard of, and the criminal law of the feudal period was generally this standard, and today the author will introduce a relatively special punishment method in the past------ "shackles".
We often see in costume TV dramas that the standard of the prisoner is the shackle on the shoulder, the shackle is put together by two wooden boards, leaving only a large hole and two small holes, the prisoner through these holes to extend the hand and head, so it seems that the use of the shackle is similar to the modern handcuffs, are used to restrict the prisoner's personal freedom. But in comparison, it is definitely better to handcuffs, first of all, the shackles are made of wood, so there is a certain weight, and the neck touch is very hard, and the hand must be held up all the time and cannot be put down, so it seems that the handcuffs are simply too humane.
The shackles were indeed the same as handcuffs at first, just for the convenience of escorting prisoners, but after Zhu Yuanzhang's transformation, it became a punishment. The shackles of the Ming Dynasty became longer and wider than before, and weighed thirty-five pounds. After being convicted, the prisoner must take this overweight shackle and walk through the street, that is, parade through the street to show the public.
This method of punishment not only causes the prisoner's flesh to feel pain, but also destroys their psychology. After that, the weight of the shackles gradually increased, and by the Zhengde years, it had reached a terrible one hundred and fifty pounds, and many prisoners who committed the most heinous crimes had to wear this weight of the shackles, and then they would suffocate to death.
In the Qing Dynasty, this method of punishment was still inherited, but at that time there was already a clear standard division of shackles, of which there were twenty-five kilograms, thirty-five kilograms, and one hundred kilograms, and the prisoners who needed to bear this punishment wore shackles of different weights according to the severity of their crimes. After wearing the shackles made of solid wood, the prisoner's neck and wrists cannot be moved casually, and after a long period of friction, they will become blurred with flesh and blood, and the rich people will often bribe the jailers to remove the shackles and make themselves feel better, but the poor have no other way but to endure this pain.
Of course, like imprisonment, there is a time limit, for example, those sentenced to one-year prison must wear shackles for twenty days, prisoners who are exiled for two thousand miles must wear shackles for fifty days, and manchus who are sentenced to more than one sentence can be replaced by shackles. In addition, the most serious crimes will also be sentenced to permanent shackles, in fact, the nature of permanent shackles is no different from the death penalty, and many prisoners have to go through a long period of pain before being suffocated by shackles.
For those who have endured the punishment of shackles, in addition to physical pain, the inconvenience of life is also a great trouble. Because the shackles are too large, so the prisoners can not eat by themselves, can only rely on others to feed, there are families to take care of it is better, no family can only turn to the jailer, a day can eat a meal is not bad. On the basis of the shackles, the people of the Qing Dynasty also invented the standing shackles.
The shackles are meant to have the prisoner stand inside a wooden cage, which is designed to be wide and narrow on the top, and the prisoner must put his head on the outside of the cage. But some people may wonder about this, what if the head is too short to let go? The answer is simple, lay a brick under your feet. The more bricks there are, the better, and the number of bricks that can be laid varies according to the severity of the crime, and the most heinous ones who are not qualified to lay bricks will eventually be hanged alive.
However, this cruel method of punishment was abolished after the overthrow of feudal society, but in fact it was not useless, and only this cruel criminal law could play a deterrent effect on those who were extremely vicious.