It is necessary to pay attention to the scientific spirit and comprehensively understand and consciously apply the law in the establishment of rules and regulations. Whether in ancient times or today, the formulation and promulgation of laws and decrees is the precursor to national governance, and what kind of law to enact and how to legislate are crucial. As a country with statutory law, China has accumulated rich legislative experience in ancient times and created many reasonable principles in technology.
Codification principles
Codification of the Code is an important practice in the construction of the rule of law and a concentrated embodiment of the level of development of the rule of law. Our codification has a long history. During the Warring States period, Li Wu of the State of Wei formulated the first written legal code, the Book of Laws, which opened up a codified structure of various laws, with punishment as the mainstay, general provisions dominating sub-rules, and distinguishing between substance and procedure, laying the foundation for the unique legislative style of the Chinese legal system, and exerting a profound impact on the codification and legislative technology of later generations. The Shang martingale changed the law into a law, and the law began to become the basic code of the state, stipulating the criminal name and crime. On this basis, the Tang Law Shuyi further created the ancient Chinese codification model of "the unity of law and neglect", attaching notes to each legal provision, called "neglect", making the meaning of legal provisions more unified and clear, and delineating standards for law enforcement and judicial officials to correctly understand the meaning of the law and apply the law.
Systematic principles
The problems faced by national governance are complex and diverse, and it is not enough to rely on a single code, and it is necessary to build a set of mutually reinforcing legal systems. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the "etiquette" of moral laws and the "punishment" of the legal system constituted a complete "ritual punishment system" and jointly maintained social order. After the Shang martingale changed the law to the law, the ancient Chinese legal system began to transform into the "legal system". The legal system of the Qin Dynasty included laws, orders, procedures (rules or regulations), formulas, lessons (provisions on inspection, examination, supervision, etc.), legal answers (legal interpretations), and court actions (precedents). As far as the Sui Dynasty, the "four-in-one" of law, order, grid and style together constituted the basic form of national law. The law refers to the basic code of the state, which stipulates the criminal name and crime; the order is the emperor's edict, which is a separate administrative regulation in nature, which can change, supplement or even cancel the provisions of the "law"; refers to the compilation of the emperor's temporary issuance of a single edict; and the form is the implementation rules of the order. Subsequent dynasties, on the basis of inheriting this basic institutional system, increase or adjust it according to the needs of changing current situations. For example, the grid was an important legal form in the Tang Dynasty, and in the process of conviction and sentencing, the legal effect of the grid was higher than that of the law. A very important and frequent legislative activity of the Song Dynasty was the compilation of edicts, which compiled the single-line edicts issued by the emperor into a book according to the style of the law, so as to be a separate legal form, which was a modification and supplement to the law, and usually had priority over the Song Penal System when applied. In addition to the "Daming Law", the Ming Dynasty sorted out and promulgated the "Regulations on Questioning Punishment", and in the thirteenth year of the Wanli Calendar, the law and the law were combined and named "Supplementary Regulations of the Great Ming Law". In the Qing Dynasty, the "rules" that were used as the guidelines for handling affairs and the "rules" that were written into a book were compiled as a compilation of administrative regulations, regulations, and work precedents of various government departments, called "rules and regulations", which was also a very important form of law.
Principles of time-based legislation
Legislation according to the situation is the basic requirement of legislation. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong proposed that the law should "change at any time, move according to customs, and adapt to the times." On this basis, Han Fei further proposed that "the law and the times turn to rule, and the law and the world are meritorious." Throughout the legislative history of ancient China, successive rulers have all formulated and amended laws to maintain their rule according to the changes in the times. In 206 BC, Liu Bang invaded Guanzhong, and after learning that the people deeply resented the harsh punishment of the Qin Dynasty, he and his father and elder agreed on the three chapters of the law, "The murderer dies, the wounded and the thief atones for the crime." Yu Xi went to Qin Fa". After the formal establishment of the Han Dynasty, the "Three Chapters of the Law of Covenants" could not adapt to the increasingly complex social relations, and in 202 BC, Liu Bang ordered Xiao He to "take what is appropriate for the time and make the Nine Chapters of the Law", and the "Nine Chapters of law" became the basic law of the Han Dynasty. With the development of the times, Liu Bang also ordered Shusun Tong to formulate the "Law of the Gong Chapter" to maintain the order of the monarchs and subjects. As for the edicts and edicts issued flexibly by the emperors of various dynasties according to their needs, they are also prominent manifestations of the legislation of the times. In addition to formulating new laws and issuing new edicts, successive dynasties have often achieved the effect of maintaining the stability of the law and adapting to the development and changes of the times by revising the old laws.
Principles of customary legislation
Customs legislation refers to the formulation of laws based on national conditions and reality. China is a unified multi-ethnic country with a vast territory, and regional differences and national characteristics are fully reflected in ancient legislation. For example, the Qin people, who started in Longxi, were mainly nomadic, good at raising horses, and managing the "Stable Garden Law" of raising livestock stables and gardens, which became an important part of the laws of the Qin State. The Qing Dynasty also liberalized the local legislative power of Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Henan, Sichuan, Shandong, Shanxi, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other provinces, and the regulations it formulated were called "provincial regulations", which contained many local characteristics. In view of the ethnic relations in the frontier areas, the Qing Dynasty also formulated a large number of ethnic legislation, such as the "Regulations of the Li Fan Yuan", "The Rules of Returning to Xinjiang", "The Constitution of Tibet", "The Case of Fanyi in Xining, Qinghai", etc., and the content of the legislation included civil, criminal, economic, administrative, military, judicial, religious, etc. with ethnic characteristics. The general principle is that "it is not easy to cultivate one's teachings, it is not easy to unify one's administration, it is not easy to start without being alarmed, and it is calm to the wind and self-transformation."
Easy to see, easy to know, easy to be principled
When the law is formulated, it must be able to use and be easy to use, which requires that it be easy to see, easy to know, and easy to do. For the ancients, "easy to see" required that laws must be promulgated after they were enacted, so that officials and the people could easily know the content of the law. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zheng Guozi cast the legal provisions on top of the ding, and placed the ding outside the royal palace, breaking the tradition of legal mysticism and setting off a movement of written law in various princely states. The openness of the law has gradually become the basic requirement of legislation, which enables people to foresee the results of their own actions and know the right and wrong of their actions, and at the same time force the law to maintain a certain degree of stability and cannot be changed overnight. "Easy to know" requires that the legal language be concise and understandable. The full text of "Tang Law Neglect" is 12 articles and 500 articles, the content is simple, the words are four and six, and it is catchy to read. This style was inherited by later generations of legal texts. "Easy to do" means that the law should be easy to comply with, easy to apply, and operable. Traditional society mainly achieves the operability of legislation in two ways, one is to simplify the provisions and simplify the text. Liu Bang's "three chapters of the law" in the first entry into the customs are to quickly achieve legislative purposes with the simplest constraints; the second is to note in the law, explain the legal concepts and provisions in detail, and enhance the operability of the law.
Principles of reason
The authority of the law ultimately comes from the people's inner universal belief and conscious observance, and the formulation of laws is inseparable from the examination of human nature. The unity of feelings, reason, and law is an expression of traditional legal justice and a basic requirement of legislation. From the perspective of legislative technology, it is reasonable to achieve this in three ways. The first is to directly stipulate the core content of reasonableness in the legal provisions. For example, based on the basic moral requirements of "filial piety", "filial piety" is stipulated as a felony. The "Tang Law Discussion" also specifically stipulates the system of "keeping and raising relatives", and if a criminal has a respected relative who needs to be supported, he can suspend the implementation of the punishment and then enforce it after he sends his parents to the end of his life. The second is to explain the principle of reason behind the provisions in the legal interpretation of the provisions. The "Tang Law of Neglect and Discussion of Famous Cases" partly clarifies the basic principle of "people being called the first" (that is, "people-oriented"), and explains the requirements and embodiment of this principle through the appendix of the law in the specific provisions that follow. Of course, "neglect" includes not only legal interpretations, but also cases. For example, in the "Neglect discussion" in the "Discussion of Guests" section of Article 7 of the Law of Fame and Customs, "Xiwu Wang Keshang, after the Sealing of the Xiahou Clan, Yu Qi, After the Sealing of the Yin Clan in the Song Dynasty, If the Present Zhou Later Jie Gong, Sui Hou Gong, and the State Guest" to illustrate the scope of "State Guest". The third is a general provision, that is, a general provision with the words "feelings" and "reason", which are discretionary by law enforcement personnel in accordance with the spirit of Confucian ethics. For example, Article 450 of the Tang Laws of Neglect and Miscellaneous Laws stipulates, "What should not be done": Those who are light in affection shall be flogged forty; those who are serious in matters shall be eighty rods. The "circumstances" and "reasons" here are grasped by judicial officials in the floating space according to the facts of the case.