Qin And Han Slaves Legal Status And A Comparative Study

Using the comparing methods, the study on the slaves' legal status lived in Chin and Han dynasties is divided into five chapters.Chapter one discusses the definition and regimentation of slaves. With the help of the sociology theory and the dividing class methods, we discuss about the slaves' definition, the difference and connection with slaves. We also examine about the regimentation and designation of slaves in Chin and Han dynasties. Two questions which are disputed by scholars, "Li-chen-qie" and "Si-shu", are emphasized here.Focusing on the origin of slaves of Chin and Han dynasties, Chapter two tackles with the evolvement of slavery. We compare the origin of them with that of slaves in pre-Chin era and Roman Empire. Although the routes were almost same, differences were obvious according to the social situations and historical periods, such as the primary origin of slaves. At meantime, two kinds of comparisons have explained the characters and evolution of the slavery clearly.Chapter three is the principal part of the thesis, dealing with the legal status of slaves in Chin and Han dynasties. First of all, we discuss about whether slaves in Chin and Han dynasties had been enrolled in the Household Register, it has been debated by scholars. Because this question is related to the truth whether slaves had total rights and capacity of criminal responsibility, it is connected tightly with slaves' legal status. Then we explore slaves' legal status from two angles by comparison. On the one hand, compared with rights of Roman slaves, we discuss the rights of slaves in Chin and Han dynasties, such as living right, property right, marriage right, political right and litigation right. On the other hand, compared with the crimes of other social strata or groups, we discuss about the crimes of slaves, such as homicide, theft, illicit sexual relations and escape, here we take slaves as the subjects of crime. From the comparison we draw a conclusion: the slaves in the Chin and Han dynasties had more rights than the Roman slaves; The differences between the punishment to the slaves' crimes and to others' crimes were not so distinct in Chin and Han dynasties.Chapter four characterizes the legal status of slaves in Chin and Han dynasties, and analyzes the causes. In my opinion, the economic conditions, the political system, ideology and social culture in Chin and Han dynasties were all affected the legal status of slaves. Laissez-faire economic situations, power centralization, 20- level rank system, and most of the ruling men coming from commons all can improve the slaves' legal status to some extent. When we take a peek at the ideology in Chin and Han dynasty, we also find that the effect of the legalists was great, they advocated the rule of laws and equality, which were advantageous to the improvement of slaves' legal status. Although Confucianism was subordinate ideology in Chin and Han dynasties, Confucians advocated benevolence and respect to the life, to some extent, which promoted the government in Chin and Han dynasties to take some measures to protect people's life. In addition, the great social mobility and the open social customs in Chin and Han dynasties attributed to enhance the slaves' legal status.Comparing with the manumission of the Roman slaves, Chapter five discusses about the manumission of slaves in Chin and Han dynasties. The manumission ways were same, but the natures were different. The manumission of the Roman slaves reflected highly development of the slavery, while the manumission of the slaves in Chin and Han dynasties suggested the improvement of the legal status.