Since there has been life on Earth, there has been contention. Plants compete for sunlight and nutrients, and animals for territory and food. Where there is a scramble, there must be damage.
However, unlike animals and plants, once there is a dispute between human beings, it is destined to be ruined, and under this, the damage compensation system came into being.
The development of the damages system before the Tang Dynasty
The mainland had already included damages in its laws as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Xia and Shang were only the founding period of Chinese civilization, and the written language had not yet been fully formed, and the legal provisions were naturally even more imperfect.
Although it is said that Xia has "Yu Punishment" and Shang has "Tang Punishment", it is difficult to verify their existence because of their age and lack of content.
As the master of the civilization of the pre-Qin era of China, the Western Zhou Dynasty has taken shape, so various legal texts have begun to be complete, and the relevant damages are clearly stipulated in the Western Zhou law, which have been verified by experts and do exist.
When it comes to the laws of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the most widely known are the "Nine Punishments" and "Lü Punishment", but in fact, the one that really played a foundational role was actually the "Rites of Zhou".
At the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, in order to maintain the newly established Western Zhou regime, Zhou Gongdan announced that he would govern rites and make music, and then the "Rites of Zhou" came into being, and finally Zhou Gongdan promulgated and implemented in the name of the imperial court.
The Rites of Zhou is not a simple code of etiquette, but a deformed code, but a code of deformation that requires the people to implement it in the name of etiquette.
The Rites of Zhou already possessed the basic characteristics of law: it was recognized by authority and enforced by the imperial court.
After the birth of the "Rite of Zhou", the Western Zhou Dynasty naturally also produced institutions specializing in the management of state property, and also formed a relatively strict and standardized management and use system.
The "Rites of Zhou" stipulates that both managers and users should take care of the property of the imperial court. In the process of management and use, if the damage or loss is caused by personal misconduct, the relevant personnel need to compensate according to the price.
Regarding the compensation for damages in the "Zhou Li", the subjective error of the actor is the basic condition for compensation, and the degree of fault of the actor is determined by determining the amount of compensation. The principle of fault liability in the "Rite of Zhou" has become one of the guidelines for the formulation of laws in subsequent dynasties.
The Zhou Li did not provide for damage to personal property, but according to the practice at that time, civil disputes were mediated by the government, and whether and how much compensation was required needed to be determined according to the circumstances of the mediation.
The laws of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods are represented by the Qin law after the Shang Martingale Revolution. Through the study of the unearthed Qin Jian, it is found that the Qin Dynasty's management of state property from the whole process of entering and leaving the warehouse, preservation management, and distribution, has corresponding management systems and inspection procedures, and has corresponding accountability regulations, and the items stored in the warehouse must be regularly verified.
The Qin Law also stipulates that if the borrower dies or the crime cannot be recovered, the borrowed official shall compensate. It can be seen that Qin Fa is more complete than the Rite of Zhou.
But like the Rites of Zhou, Qin Law paid less attention to private compensation. However, in the Han Dynasty, due to the unremitting efforts of the emperors of the early Han Dynasty, the economy of the Han Empire developed rapidly, and the original laws were no longer enough to deal with the problem of damages in the new economic situation, so the legalists of the Han Dynasty had to further improve the Han Law, and this improvement, especially paid attention to the blank field of private property damages.
Due to the development of the commodity economy in the Han Dynasty, contracts officially appeared in trade, and these contracts had specific provisions on damages.
In the ensuing Three Kingdoms, Two Jin Dynasties, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, although there were frequent wars, the law still developed in the wars.
For example, the economic responsibility and criminal liability in compensation for damages were separated during this period; Business contracts have permeated almost all industries. However, the damage compensation system was eventually highly perfected in the Tang Dynasty!
The development of the damages system in the Tang Dynasty
During the Tang Dynasty, the state encouraged economic development, and the commodity economy was also valued by the rulers. While expanding the overland Silk Road of the Han Dynasty, the rulers also opened up the Maritime Silk Road. The rulers of the Tang Dynasty strengthened their contacts with countries in the world, the capital city of Chang'an became an international metropolis at that time, and the Tang Dynasty also became a pinnacle of the feudal era on the mainland.
With the prosperity of the economy and the development of the commodity economy, the probability of collision and friction between people in social activities has greatly increased, and new types of damage and infringement have emerged, and even contracts have begun to appear classification, in addition to the most basic buying and selling and lending, but also differentiated into pawn, employment, leasing, borrowing and separation.
Under the conditions of economic prosperity and development of the Tang Dynasty, the provisions on damages in the original legal provisions could no longer adapt to the economic situation at that time, which required the rulers of the Tang Dynasty to formulate a more timely damage system, and this was also the need to maintain social stability.
In order to strengthen the construction of the law, the rulers of the Tang Dynasty specially set up special institutions such as the Law School Hall and the Ming Law Section, mainly to train specialized legal talents; In order to strengthen the supervision of the implementation of the law, the rulers of the Tang Dynasty even set up records to join the army in addition to the original imperial historical platforms, counselors, and fengfu officials.
The process of the implementation of damages in the Tang Dynasty
The first step is to clarify the liability for damages.
The Tang Dynasty's damage compensation system was different from its predecessors in that it no longer focused on the subjective level of the perpetrator, but also took into account the objective aspect of damage.
Subjectively, if it is a malicious crime, of course, it must bear greater responsibility. Moreover, in order to prevent theft, the Tang Dynasty stipulated that as long as theft occurred, regardless of whether the theft of the robbers was serious, a double punishment would be given.
Of course, the laws of the Tang Dynasty also had their human side. In the case of compensation for damages, Tang Law paid attention to the identity of the perpetrator, of course, not on the privileged class such as nobles and high-ranking officials, but on the vulnerable groups in society who urgently need care, such as the elderly, children and the disabled.
These vulnerable groups are basically exempt from criminal liability for damages, or even financial liability if the family does not allow it.
Objectively, it depends on the severity of the damage caused by the perpetrator. If the perpetrator does not cause economic loss, no financial compensation is required, but the necessary criminal liability cannot be exempted. If the perpetrator causes damage to livestock, etc., which are damaging other items, the economic compensation can also be appropriately reduced.
The law of the Tang Dynasty was closer to modern law: at that time, the law already had a time limit for litigation, and cases that exceeded the time limit for litigation would not be accepted by the government.
Secondly, the method of compensation for damages in the Tang Dynasty was also very perfect.
The forms of compensation can be divided into three categories depending on the circumstances.
The first is based on money. Copper coins were mainly popular in the Tang Dynasty, so compensation was mainly paid in copper coins. However, at that time, due to low productivity and other reasons, cloth, gold and silver were also used as currency in the market, so compensation could also be paid with cloth, gold and silver instead of copper money.
The second is the situation where the perpetrator is unable to pay compensation for some reason, which can be replaced by unpaid work. Of course, this time needs to be set by the government.
The above two are relatively common forms of compensation, while the third form of compensation is relatively rare, that is, the inability to pay compensation and perform unpaid labor for the injured person, in which case the government can only put the perpetrator in prison. This situation is mainly aimed at the families of the offending officials.
Finally, there were already two ways to deal with damages in the Tang Dynasty: private settlement and official settlement.
In fact, the differentiation of these two methods was also a demand of the masses at that time.
First of all, for the wealthy households, they pay special attention to reputation, thinking that Bo Gongtang is damaging to their reputation, so they will choose to solve it in private in most cases.
Second, for most civilians, they cannot afford to pay the high cost of litigation, and they believe that "the door is rushing south, and it is reasonable to take money", so the official solution can only be their choice when they have no choice.
Third, the lengthy litigation process consumes a lot of energy, something neither rich nor poor people want to go through.
Finally, the choice of the speaker is very important when choosing a private solution. Generally, it is necessary to choose people who are highly respected in the local area and have authority to speak, such as the patriarch of a family, the chief of the lieutenant, etc.
The reason for the development of the Tang Dynasty damage compensation system
The development of the damage compensation system began in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and after thousands of years, to such a perfect degree in the Tang Dynasty, there is a historical inevitability and necessity.
First of all, the damage compensation system had become part of the law in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and after thousands of years, it had reached the stage of natural formation in the Tang Dynasty. This is the inevitability of the development of the damage compensation system in the Tang Dynasty.
Second, the development of the damage compensation system in the Tang Dynasty was an inevitable requirement for economic development. The economy of the Tang Dynasty developed rapidly, and the capital city of Chang'an became an international metropolis, and people from different walks of life from many countries gathered in Chang'an.
In the past, damages were mainly for local people, but at that time, damage compensation was faced with people from various countries with different customs and habits, and imperfect relevant laws would inevitably lead to unnecessary disputes.
In order not to cause unnecessary disputes, the Tang Dynasty had to strive to improve the damage compensation system. This was a necessity for the damage compensation system to be developed in the Tang Dynasty.
Of course, the Tang Dynasty's damage compensation system still has many problems, but the flaws are not hidden, and the Tang Dynasty can also provide a solid foundation for the continuous development of future generations.