A Study On The Operation Of Local Judicial Power In The Qin Dynasty

In the year of 221 BC,the Qin dynasty was unified,which innovatively established a complete set of national systems with the core of centralization.Jun Xian Zhi(郡县制),the basis of the political power of achieving centralized and autocratic rule,ensured the absolute dominance of the imperial power over the empire.So is true of the judicial power aspect.The operation of judicial power in Jun Xian(郡县)of Qin Dynasty played a pivotal role in the overall judicial operation of the country.However,with the limited spreading of document literature,there is no doubt that it restricted scholars’study on Qin history.Since the 1970s,With the continuous publication of the Qin and Han Dynasty slips,it has provided rich and reliable information for the in-depth research and exploration of the history of the Qin Dynasty.This paper focuses on the core theory of judicial power operation in Jun Xian(郡县)of Qin Dynasty to"reshape"and"analyze"the local judicial system and system of the Qin Dynasty in the terms of the restriction and operation of judicial power.First,it is about the discussion of the Jun Xian Zhi(郡县制)of the Qin Dynasty.The Qin Dynasty used it as the basis of the local political power to realize its centralized and autocratic govern.During the process of unification,The Qin rulers continued to accelerate the process of territorial expansion and integration by carring out the Jun Xian Zhi(郡县制).However,the change from the kingdom under the enfealed system to the empire governing the country is not only the expansion of land and the increase of population,but also the great changes in culture,tradition and psychological identity still using the wartime thoughts and traditional system of Qin.Ignoring the adjustment of the ruling policy,it led to the weakness of the foundation of Qin rule and accelerated the collapse of the Qin Dynasty.The second is about the exploration of the national judicial power pattern of the Qin Dynasty.Guided by the concept of the rule of law,the rulers of the Qin Dynasty respectively set up corresponding judicial organs and officials at the central,Jun(郡)and county levels.Besides,to allocate judicial power according to the administrative level,the pattern of judicial power described as"Zhuzheshouwen,Dachenshizhi,Renzhuquanduan(主者守文、大臣释滞、人主权断)"has been formed.Among them,although the central government holds the highest judicial power of the country,its judicial power is mainly manifested in the supervision of the bureaucratic system,the trial and judgment of major cases and local trial cases.For example,the judicial power of the Jun(郡)is mainly reflected in the connection between the central government and the county and the handling of jurisdiction cases.County,as the most basic link of the operation of local judicial power,undertakes many specific judicial work and functions.The third is the study and analysis of the specific procedures of local judicial power operation in the Qin Dynasty.During the operation process of the local judicial power in the Qin Dynasty,the county-level justice was in the core position,and formed the central direct affiliated system of"Tingwei-Xiandaoduguan(廷尉—县道都官)"and the local system of"Junshou-Xiandaoduguan(郡守—县道都官)".Meanwhile,the trial of judicial cases of the Qin Dynasty has formed a regular set of procedural paradigm(Gaohe-Bu,Feng,Zhen-Xunyu-Ju-Lun,Yi,Dang)(告劾—捕、封、诊—讯狱—鞫—论、议、当),and as the appeal program of the"Qiju(乞鞫)".In the process of case trial,the comprehensive use of evidence is always emphasized to ensure the fairness and fairness of justice.However,it should be noticed that the Qin Dynasty,after all,was in the initial stage of the autocratic centralized state system,which still had many loopholes in the operation procedure of judicial power.The fourth is about the operation of the judicial power reflected in the legal terms.The Qin Dynasty always has adhered to the tradition of "The principle of legality".As a result,the legislators of the Qin Dynasty formulated detailed and complex legal provisions to deal with the endless criminal things in the society.Although the Qin Dynasty was in the initial stage of the Chinese law system whose legislative technology was still immature and the abstract ability was insufficient,the emergence of various specialized legal terms not only reflected the legislators’ cognition level of legal system and the construction level of legal system in Qin Dynasty,but also provided reference for the revision of laws for later generations.Fifth,the influence of the concept of power restriction on the judicial system of the Qin Dynasty.The supervision and restriction mechanism of power developed and expanded with the establishment of the centralized authoritarian state in the Qin Dynasty.In the process of political practice,a one-yuan political power structure with the emperor was gradually formed as the owner of the highest power,and a supervision and restriction system commanding the emperor and serving the imperial power was constructed at the three administrative levels of the central,Jun(郡)and county.Moreover,with the continuous clarity of the specific administrative affairs division,the power supervision and restriction mechanism of the Qin Dynasty showed the characteristics of specialization and independence.However,it should be noticed that although the restriction of local judicial power was realized and the political task of strengthening the centralization was better completed,the power restriction of the Qin Dynasty was still limited by history and didn’t completely have the ability of operating independence from the imperial power.Finally,the relationship between the central government and the local governments of the Qin Dynasty was reexamined.As for the practice of judicial power operation,the relationship between the central government and the local government in the Qin Dynasty was that under the guidance of the thoughts of the rule of law,the central government established the absolute authority of the central government by controlling the judicial power of the national government and firmly grasped the dominant power of local administration.At the same time,with the principle of not violating the central laws,the local governments had a certain administrative autonomy,and didn’t completely obey the central government.In short,from the perspective of the operation of judicial power,the central government occupies an absolute dominant position,and the local governments have part of the administrative autonomy that is not recognized by the central government.The relationship between the central and local governments more reflects the contradiction between "unification" and "governance".