As we all know, today's society is quite civilized and progressive, which is reflected in the law that suspects can have the opportunity to try first and second instances, such provisions can largely avoid the probability of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, and also show the society's compassion and respect for citizens, even if this citizen may be a real prisoner, he can also have the opportunity to appeal before the case is decided. So, could there be such humane regulations in ancient times? In fact, there have been, this we have seen in film and television works, when the executioner's big knife is about to fall, overheard someone shouting "leave people under the knife", he did not dare to move. Why?
In fact, this trick was not effective in every dynasty, but it was possible in the Song Dynasty. We all know that the hierarchical system of ancient feudal society was quite strict, although the laws were formulated to safeguard the interests of the ruling class, but in order to maintain a stable and harmonious social state, the ruling class cannot ignore the fact that there are people committing adultery in the territory, and all factors that threaten social stability must be punished, and to a certain extent, the legitimate rights and interests of the people are protected. The Song Law occupies a very important position in the legal system of feudal society, and there are reasons why it can be respected by many people, such as the 13-character rule that "any person who is on death row who is about to be sentenced to death and is wronged, then investigate Chen Song."
The meaning of this sentence is also relatively easy to understand, all the condemned prisoners who have been wronged before leaving can have the opportunity to appeal, and it is precisely because of such legal provisions that the executioner does not dare to do it, otherwise he has violated the law. This kind of thing was not common in ancient times, especially before the Song Dynasty, it was almost impossible, after all, the original intention of the ruling class to formulate laws was also to maintain its own majesty, and once the case was overturned, it was not a self-defeating mouth, so they would not allow such a situation to happen. However, the Song Dynasty made great progress in this regard, allowing prisoners to have the opportunity to plead themselves.
This is largely due to the perfect social governance system of the Song Dynasty, which can be said to be a more humane and more civilized existence in ancient history, and it is not worse than the Tang Dynasty. The reason why it eventually went to extinction was not due to the struggle for power and profit of the imperial power class or the rebellion of the people at the bottom, but too much emphasis on literature and light force, which eventually led to the invasion of foreign forces. Then again, the prosperity and progress of the Song Dynasty is reflected in the law, which is more just and enlightened than its predecessors. It is not unfounded that this dynasty can emerge such an official stream as "Bao Qingtian", after all, there are benevolent rulers behind it.
However, the reversal of cases such as "leaving people under the knife" was limited to the Song Dynasty, which showed that the ruling class at that time still had a considerable sense of measurement and justice. Fortunately, our modern society has established a sound legal system, all people can be fair and respected, even if they break the law, they have the opportunity to defend again, which is the greatest progress of society.