A Study On The System Of Voluntary Surrender In Tang Dynasty

Voluntary surrender system has a long history in China’s legal history.According to the relevant laws and records,voluntary surrender system originated from the Western Zhou Dynasty,and during the Qin and Han dynasties,the system was established,it developed to a period of great prosperity in the Tang Dynasty.Therefore,it has importment research value.The law of Tang Dynasty represented by the Tang Code is based on the summery of the criminal laws of previous dynasties,it has realized inheritance and development in combination with the social background,such as ideological,political,economic and so on.The content of the system in the Tang Dynasty was consumate,it not only specified a series of general elements such as the time,place,subject and content of the establishment of voluntary surrender,but also analyzed specific problems,and made special provisions on the voluntary surrender in a series of special situations,such as the accomplices turned themselves,the voluntary surrender of several crimes,the system of Suro,confess the public office’s crimes and so on.In addition to the provisions on the establishment of voluntary surrender,it also stipulates a series of circumstances that prohibit voluntary surrender.Even voluntary surrender can not reduce the penalty.The principle of leniency in penalty and leniency in voluntary surrender system plays an decisive role in determing the legal responsibility of voluntary surrender,mainly exempting penalty and supplemented by reducing penalty.Systematic voluntary surrender system in the Tang Dynasty can reflect a lot of characteristics,it can not only give expression to the characteristics of paying attention to the thought and neglecting behavior for the purpose of encouraging criminals to reform.Influenced by the Confucian thought of morality dominating punishment,the system attaches importance to the subjective education of criminals,combines etiquette and law to jointly guide judicial practice,and adheres to the application of voluntary surrender under the guidance of the thought of noble morality and cautious punishment.Adhere to the combination of general principles and specific principles,arrange the content and structure of the voluntary surrender system,strictly stipulate the time,place and subject of voluntary surrender,and stipulate explicit provisions on special situations such as criminal voluntary surrender and accomplice voluntary surrender,so as to make the system perfect and rigorous.The surrendered system also emphasizes on the recoverability of crime and protect the victim’s legitimate rights and interests.Many characteristics also reflect the implementation effect of the surrendered system in the Tang Dynasty.The system has both limitations and positive influence.Influenced by the thought of feudal rule,the system did not legalize the concept of voluntary surrender in legislation,and the blind application of the voluntary surrender system violated the original intention of reform,and was too rigid in some cases.In addition,it paid attention to the performance after the crime and ignored the subjective malignancy during the crime,which was not conducive to effectively combating the crime and reducing the personal danger of criminals.However,the system plays a decisive role in the positive impact.It not only had a positive impact on the maintenance of social stability and ruling order in the Tang Dynasty,but also guided future legislation as the chief source of legislation,such as Song,Yuan,Ming,Qing and so on.Furthermore,in the modern voluntary surrender system,it still inherits and develops the voluntary surrender system in the Tang Dynasty,and gives significance inspirations to improve the voluntary surrender system in Tang Dynasty.