The Formation of Legal System in Ancient China

我的研究以水虎地出土的秦简和张家山出土的汉简为基础，阐明了中国古代法制史的两个问题：1)重建一个帝王程序，2)解决一个刑罚制度的历史变迁。结论如下：1)第一阶段的帝王程序是由称为月历的书记员负责的。尽管他们的官职不高，但他们的职责非常重要。他们通过调查获得犯罪嫌疑人的供词，并根据成文法和司法判例对犯罪行为进行量刑。秦国早在公元前3 ~ 10世纪就建立了中央向下游分配法律经验的制度。2)秦国的刑罚劳动制度中没有术语。囚犯除非得到赦免或赦免，否则不得获救。汉武帝在公元前167年进行改革，为劳役确立了一个明确的术语。我们必须把《汉书》第二十三章中提到的汉武帝的诏书翻译成一个确定术语的法令。但我们不能忽视的事实是，除了终身的苦役外，还有一些刑期较轻的劳役。可以说，通过汉武帝的改革，刑役制度是完全建立起来的。

My research elucidated two problems on legal history in ancient China based on Qin bamboo-slips unearthed in Shuihudi and Han bamboo-slips in Zhangjiashan, i.e. 1)reconstruction of a regal procedure, and 2)solution of a historical transition of penal system. The conclusions are as follows :1)It was clerks called yueli that took charge of the first stage of regal procedure. Their duty was very important in spite of their low official position. They produced confession from a suspect through an inquiry and fitted the punishment to the crime in conformity to statute law (luling) and judicial precedents (xingshi). The institution through which the central organization distributed legal experiences to the lower reaches had been established in Qin state in 3^<rd> century BC.2)There was no term in penal labor system of Qin state. A prisoner was not rescued except for redemption or amnesty. It was the reformation by Han Wudi in 167BC that established a definite term for penal labour. We must translate an Imperial edict by Han Wudi mentioned in chapter 23 of Hanshu as an ordinance to establish a definite term. But we must not neglect the fact that there were some light penal labours for a definite term besides hard ones for life. It is safe to say that the system of penal servitude for a definite term was completely established through the reformation by Han Wudi.