The Tang Dynasty Yushitai Trial Function Research

In the legal system of Imperial China, the Yushitai has been a distinctive deparment in charge of inspection ever since it was established in the Qin dynasty. The duty of Yushitai has been expanded in the following dynasties. By the Tang dynasty, the Yushitai adopted in addition to its inspectorial power the judicial function. Before Emperor Taizong of Tang, the Yushitai was in charge of inspection only and it could not hear any case. After Emperor Taizong ascended to the throne, the Yushitai started to hear cases, and eventually became one of the three main legal departments of Imperial China, along with the Board of Punishment and Dalisi. Yushitai could accept ordinary cases, or run cases concerning high-rank officials with the emperor’s consent(the "zhao yu"). For the most important cases, the Yushitai still needed to cooperate with the Board of Punshiment, the Dalisi to carry out the necessary judicial process. The Yushitai did not only have the power of hearing a case, but also the power of giving a verdict, even the power of enforcing an execution. At this time, Yushitai already carried the power of prosecution, hearing, verdict, and execution. By the mid-Tang dynasty, even for the most important cases the Yushitai could carry out the judicial process on its own. Most of Yushitai’s cases were concerning the officials. Yushitai’s judicial power was closely connected to its inspectorial power---Yushitai was in charge of finding out the oflicals’ misconducts, and would directly proceed to prosecution once enough findings of misconduct was found on an official. The source Yushitai’s power was from the Emperor---it was only responsible to the Emperor, and was under direct supervision of the Emperor himself. Throughout the Tang dynasty, the Yushitai’s power grew alongside with the growth of the Emperor’s power and the sophistication of centralized Chinese Imperial system. The fact that Yushitai’s power came from the Emperor predicted its tendency of juridical unfairness. Therefore many restriction were set upon Yushitai’s power to prevent this tendency. For example, the officials of Yushitai were given much power, but had low ranks among the officials. In addition, the Yushitai was divided into the east and west branch---the two branches were responsible of inspecting each other. Furthermore, the Yushitai officials were responsible for reporting on each other’s misconducts. This essay will inspect in depth the origin of Yushitai’s judicial power, and the nature of its judicial process in order to provide a source of information for the current legal development of the PRC.