Reexamination into the Institutional History of the Han Dynasty by the wooden slips excavated in Zhangjiashan

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In this project, we reexamined the ancient Chinese legal administrative system, utilizing newly excavated manuscripts. The main material is the Statutes and Ordinances of the Second Year (Ernian luling), which was unearthed from a Han tomb at Zhangjiashan.As for the legal system, the focus of research was put on the penal system, especially the system of compulsory labour punishment There existed five types of labour punishment without a definite duration in the Qin and early Han periods. They are thought to have been classified according to the hardness of labour. But it must have been difficult to classify several types of labour punishment only by this factor, since it is not an objective standard. Intensive reading of the Ernian luling tells us that the different types of punishment were classified by several factors, that is, tasks and work shifts of convicts, and the treatment of convicts' families. In the Emperor Wen's reign, every form of punishment for offenders families was a … More bolished. This reform caused the definite duration for each type of labour punishment to be set, and it probably effected the abolishment of mutilating punishment in the same reign.In addition,- the system of aristocratic ranks was also taken up for discussion. These ranks were given to subjects without any qualification by way of a blanket order and that has been thought to be a characteristic phenomenon of the Han. The Ernian luling include many regulations concerning the privileges of rank holders. In previous studies by Japanese scholars, it has been doubted whether these privileges were actually used, so they were not regarded as an essential factor that made commoners aspire to ranks. But we can surely find some active privileges in Ernian luling Aristocratic ranks should have been desired because of these merits, formed an important part of social order, and strengthened the position of the emperor.The articles given on this sheet, and other articles, i.e. "Aristocratic Rank in the Early Han Dynasty: The Legal Privileges of Rank Holders and their Inheritance" (in: Tomiya, I. (ed.), Studies on the Statutes and Ordinances Excavated from Zhangjiashan Tomb No.247, Kyoto, Hoyu shoten, 2006), appeared as a result of the reexamination mentioned above. Less