Research On Judicial Official Of Chu State In Warring States Period

Because of war and artificial destruction, the research of the legal situation other than Qin state almost be an mission impossible. Although some fragments and remnants were found by generations of scholars, the first hand information for research on judicial were still in deficient. However, thanks to the special nature environment of Chu state, an abundance of manuscripts which written on silk or bamboo slips were still remains, which provide some useful samples for judicial research on eastern six states. In this paper, the author will study on the judicial officials referred in the bamboo slips.Most of the records on judicial officials of Chu state was kept in Baoshan Chu bamboo slips which excavated alongside the Jin Sha railway in Hubei province in the late 1980’s.These slips contains 3 parts:funeral objects records,judicial documents and divination records.And the judicial documents are the main research object of this paper.The judicial documents in Baoshan Chu manuscript were written on 2kinds of bamboo slips,one had title and the other had not.The former contains 4kinds of documents which called Shuyu(疋狱),Shouqi(受),Jizhu(集箸)and Jizhuyan(集箸言).The latter contains 3 kinds of documents:loan documentation,judicial files and work assignment record.There were several materials for the research on Chu judicial officials other than Baoshan Chu manuscript, such as the inscriptions on Chu bronze ware and the stories about the history of Chu state which written by Chu people. However these materials could hardly be used in the research because the contents maybe too much curtness or the material itself may be used for special occasions.The topic of Chu official system has been discussed for a long time. There were several documents involved in this field from Ming dynasty. And the research on Baoshan Chu manuscript had experienced 3 major phrase from the excavation. The first phrase was from 1987 to 1991. The primary mission in this phrase was the publication of the annotations of these manuscripts. Based on that annotations, a preliminary study on Chu judicial official system was published in the archaeological report of Baoshan Chu tomb. The second phrase was from 1991 to 2000, as the academic circles turned the attentions to these materials, the first boost of the research on Baoshan manuscript appeared. In this phrase, the local official system caught the attention of scholars, and some synthesis studies on Chu judicial official which based not only Baoshan manuscript but also other excavated materials. The third phrase was from 2000 to nowadays. After several years of research, the explanation and analysis of the characters on Baoshan manuscript basically completed. Therefore, the collected annotations appeared in this phrase, while further research carried on.During the research on the ancient judicial official system, researchers have to face a problem that how to differentiate the judicial officials from other officials because of the comprehensive and complex duties of ancient Chinese officials. This paper will take a wide category for the definition of the judicial official. As long as the official whose duty refers to review or settle the disputes according to the rule which could be regarded as law, or provide assistances to this kind of work, he could be considered to be a judicial official.This paper takes the judicial officials recorded in the excavated manuscripts of Chu state as the object for carrying out the research. This research includes 3 parts: the judicial officials in central government, the judicial officials in local governments, the interactions among judicial officials and the operation of the judicial power. The former 2 parts compost the static research which aim at how to define each official and what are their authorities; the latter part is the dynamic research which focus on the operation of the judicial official system and the operation rules of judicial power. For the purpose above, this paper consists 10 chapters.The study on the judicial officials in central government takes the Zuoyin Office(左尹官署)as center.The first chapter of this paper will discuss this topic.Zuoyin Office used to be the central judicial department of Chu state in warring state period,and Zuoyin was the center of judicial power system of entire Chu state.There are 3 reasons lead to this conclusion:first is that Zuoyin was the agent of the king’s judicial power.According to slips from No.15 to 17,when the king receive the case directly sent to him by the one who took the judgment as an unfair decision to him,he would transfer it to Zuoyin,which means Zuoyin had the authority to deal with the case for the king himself.On the other hand,Zuoyin will transfer his case to other department,which means Zuoyin could also preside judicial work.Second,Zuoyin had the authority to supervise the official conducts of subordinate officials.Zuoyin didn’t involved in the case on the slips from No.120 to 123,while the case appeared in Zuoyin’s tomb,shows that Zuoyin was rehearing this case.In the case on the slips from No.15 to 17,the defendant refused to accept judgment,because the judge refused to make judgment even by knowing that the plaintiff possessed the evidences.And this kind of behavior was deemed as some sort of omission by the plaintiff.When he appealed to the king for the omission conduct,Zuoyin would take charge in this case by himself,and promote the settle of the case by rehear or other way,that means Zuoyin exercised the supervison authority on judicial activities.And the third is that Zuoyin might deal with some cases by himself.As an original file,the case recorded on the slips from No.141 to 144 showed that Zuoyin attend the process of interrogation.While in the case recorded on the slips from No.126 to 128,Zuoyin ordered the local officials to provide the identity information of litigant,which could also be an evidence for that point.In the second chapter,the author analyzed several officials who judged cases recorded in slips from No.126 to 128 and No.141 to 144 together with Zuoyin and presented by Lugong/yin(路公/尹).Limited by the lack of materials,this paper focused on Lugong/yin.Traditional research on Lugong/yin tried to start with the perfect explanation of Lu()and take that as an basic to reach an explanation of the jurisdiction and the duty of Lugong/yin.But this kind of route couldn’t lead us to a perfect solution.This paper tried another route,which tries to make some conjunctures on Lugong/yin’s jurisdiction and duty.Although the title of Lugong/yin contained a Toponym,according to the record of Lugong/yin’s work,this official took great possibility to be a central department official.The reason includes:first,the jurisdiction of Lugong/yin didn’t restrained by the toponym in the title.On the other hand,Tan Luyin(郯尹)’s work had no different from other central officials who assigned work by Zuoyin,that means he had no special jurisdiction in Tan county.Second,the work place of Lugong/yin was in the capital of Chu state.Third,the author found that there were 2 Tan Luyin in Baoshan manuscript,The tenure of one of them succeed to another,and both of them worked in Zuoyin office,and there work were such busy,so they had great probable to be central official.Despite to the deficiency of records in handed-down documents,Lugong/yin’s authority on judicial work was approved by Baoshan Chu manuscript.In the legal process,Lugong/yin could be regarded as the charger in specific cases.However,because of the lack of materials,the definition and the authorities of the other officials remains to be a problem.The author speculated that these officials used to work as assistants of Zuoyin,and their jurisdiction might be unrelated to judicial affairs.In the 3rd chapter,the author analyzed those officials who sighed“zhizhi”(戠之)or“weili”(为李)at the end of some documents.These officials worked as members of Zuoyin Office.In this chapter,the author will analysis the stability of the organization,the division of work,the working mode and the appellation used in the signature.According to the cooperation of the signature which signed in different documents by the same official,the longest time interval between 2 of this kind of signature was almost half a year.And some officials not only signed in Shouqi document,but also signed in Shuyu document.That means these official had worked in Zuoyin Office,not the temporary dispatch.The signature of“zhizhi”and“weili”means the division of work,not the status or rank.The one who signed“zhizhi”means that he was the charger in one specific case,while the one who signed“weili”had to solve some specific problems.There were no strict line between these works,while those sighed“zhizhi”had higer rank than who sighed“weili”,but all of them had no power to make judge,they only took charge on some affairs related to specific cases.The research on working mode shows that if the one who once took charge in one case,he would be follow up this case,even he accept another working mission,which called“Once preside,always preside”.According to the research on the appellation of these officials,the author found that the first character of the signature was not the title,but the first name of the official.and there were 8 first names appeared in most signatures,that probably means they might be came from some specific families.The 2nd part of this paper is the research on local judicial officials.In the 4th chapter,the author take Xiangong(县公)as object.The research begins from the distinguishing between Xiangong and other officials whose title contained the word gong(公).As a Xiangong,there were lots of functions include from administration,military and judicial,and judicial power was very important.The disputes always settled by the official which had tight relationship to the disputes,and the judicial power of Xiangong was practiced by these officials.Sometimes,Xiangong might worked as the Jungong(郡公).As a Jungong,he could accept the prosecution from the prosecutor from county,that means Jungong had supervision power.Although there was no evidence showed that Xiangong would take charge in judgment,local officials still utilized the resources that county government possessed to deal with the cases,and the case recorded in slips from No.120 to 123 was the example.The research on local basic organization is in the 5th chapter.In this chapter,the author study on 2 basic officials called“Jiagong”(加公)and”Ligong”(里公).Jiagong and Ligong was set in different local area,either in county or in fief.As basic official,the duties and the functions were complex and comprehensive.Their role in the judicial affairs was similar to judicial petty officials.Concretely speaking,the duty contained 2 majority aspects:one is worked as a sheriff,took charge on arrestment or inquisition of crime.The other was to provide evidence and other information for the trial.The obligations of local basic officials were not only to assist county government,but also to offer assistance in the demand of central judicial department.There was a kind of official we couldn’t simply defined as a central official or a local official,this type of special official was called Sibai(司败).In the 6th chapter,the author started from the analysis of the meaning of the title,found that Sibai should be explained to be Si’ze(司则),which means this kind of official took charge on the law and rules.Sibai was not equal to Sikou(司寇).Sibai was widely established in different units.Some of them was set in the county government,some of them belong to nobles and some of them subordinate to some department.The most important authority of this official is to prepare for the judge.This kind of preparation included not only to bring the people concerned in the case into legal procedure,also to make legal documents for the judge.Sibai was a bridge of central judicial department and other department,or local government,embodied the intervention of Zuoying Office,and worked as a platform for the interaction of different departments and levels.The 3rd part of this paper is the dynamic research on Chu judicial official system and the operation of judicial power. In this part, the author will discuss the topic from 3 different aspects with 3 chapters.First to discuss is the operation and inneraction of central judicial department. The 7th chapter is for this research. When the officials worked as the member of Zuoyin Office and the officials worked as assistant of Zuoyin appeared together in one case, the difference between these officials was manifested. To answer the question that how these officials with different status existed in the same Zuoyin Office, the author analysis the structure of Zuoyin Office. The research shows that the Zuoyin Office had a dual structure consisted with higher rank assistants and lower rank officials, and the structure might originated from an ancient source.By discussing the interaction between Zuoyin Office and Sima Office(司马官署)as an example,the author analyzed the interaction between central judicial department and other departments during judicial process.During the analysis of Sima,the author realized that this kind of officer was not a pure military officer,he also took charge in the economic affairs in peace time.And the Sima Office might be authorized to resolve some sort of disputes by itself,but it still chose to transfer the case to Zuoyin Office;while Zuoyin Office found that the jurisdiction of specific case belonged to Sima Office,it would also contact to Sima Office.Sometimes the Sima Office would query the decision made by Zuoyin Office,and give its’own opinion.In the 9th chapter, basing on the analysis of procession of local cases, concludes that the county government was the center of local judicial power. The county government owned the jurisdiction of local cases, accepted the prosecution and the procedure of interrogation still happened in county government. The mode of interaction between Zuoyin Office and local government is: Zuoyin Office was entitle to lead and to supervise the local government in judicial domain, and the local government obliged to provide information and assistants for the cases on which Zuoying Office had direct jurisdiction.Besides, in the appendix I, the author enlist several officials which was used to be defined as judicial officials, but in fact they were not. In this part, the paper will show that not every official appeared in the legal documents can be recognized as judicial official. There were other possibilities. In the appendix II, a form which shows the signature situation of the officials who worked as the member of Zuoyin Office. And in the appendix III, the author found that the length and the distance between sennits of bamboo slip might be help for bamboo slip recuperation. And some information which may lead to reclassification of the slips No.120 to 161 was revealed.