Han County Officials Jurisdiction

The independent jurisdiction, judicial organizations, professional judicial community and judicial processes in modem sense do not exist in Chinese traditional state powers while the justice, judicial bureaucracy and judicial processes from the legal anthropological standpoint do exist. The judicial bureaucracy are the masters and executors of the laws and the laws are pushed and carried into effect by them in order to control the society by the laws. With the genesis of the laws, the judicial community is generated and become the focus by the people form the beginning in Chinese traditional society. The judicial community and the enforcement of laws is one of the kernel theses in Chinese traditional legal cultures. Whatever the Chinese classics Shang Shu, the scholars in prior Qin dynasty and the past dynasties in China, the relationship between the judicial community and the laws is the everlasting discourse by the philosophers. Whereas the studies on judicial bureaucracy in Chinese traditional society is not grasped enough eyes of the contemporary Chinese academia at all times. And the Han dynasty is the crucial period of the development of Chinese legal system. The legal system in Hay dynasty has a consanguineous relationship with its political structure and it was germinated in the Spring and Autumn period, shaped initially in the Warring States Period, established in Qin dynasty which is the delaminating political bureaucracy with the equal authorities in counties under the centralization of the state powers. Furthermore, the county bureaucracy in Han dynasty becomes the important administrative and judicial point of the regional legal and political system from the basis of Qin's system. Therefore beneath the Han's system, the heads of the Counties are appointed by the central government and dominate their regional affairs according to the uniform laws and regulations by the state enacted: And one of the most vital regional authorities is the criminal jurisdiction. The bureaucracy of the county dominates the common criminal cases in his district and has the broad criminal jurisdictions that accept, hear and sentence a case while execute all kinds of criminal judgments. Generally, the start, the end and the actualization of criminal jurisdiction are accomplished in the level of county bureaucracy. So there is an ancient saying which is 'the heads of the counties have the arbitrary power of execution' in Chinese history that indicates the central status of the criminal jurisdiction of the county in Han dynasty under the state judicial system visually. By the variances of the route of polity and cultures and the structures and systems of the society themselves, there is a great variety of factors that impact the development of Han's regional jurisdiction and 'the arbitrary power of execution' of the counties' bureaucracy present a very complicated condition accordingly. However, the Chinese academic studies on criminal jurisdiction of county bureaucracy in Han dynasty have been weak so far, and so the disquisitions on Han's regional jurisdictionare nearly pathless. Wherefore, with the reviews of seven problems in this paper, such as the establishment, the constitution, the composing of the jurisdiction, the processing of the jurisdiction, the checks of the jurisdiction, the judicial style and impacts of Han's county bureaucracy and so on, it depends the criminal jurisdiction of county bureaucracy in Han dynasty as the basic studying point and describes and interprets Han's regional judicial system in complete and multi-aspects. It is comprised of introduction, text and conclusion. The text includes seven chapters as following:ChapterⅠfocus on the establishment of the central status of Han's county bureaucracy with the reviews of its history resources and factual basis. It is comprised of three parts: one is the germination and establishment of the county system; two is the status of jurisdiction of county bureaucracy in state judicial system before Han dynasty; three is the generation and the main forms of this status. With the generation and development of the county system, the counties become the centre of the regional jurisdiction gradually form the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States Period and keep this jurisdiction structure after the foundation of Qin dynasty. Therefore, at the early time in Han dynasty, the centre of the regional jurisdiction structure still locates on the counties. The counties are the most basic and crucial links of the execution of the state jurisdiction and the authorities of the acceptance, judgment, execution, processes by the laws mainly depend on the sets of the designations of the county bureaucracy. In this long period, the functions of Jun (the form of Chinese county) are martial; Xian (another form of Chinese county) has the general and broad jurisdiction though Jun has the certain powers. After the Mid-Han period, Jun stands out from the initial point in the administration and expands its jurisdiction day by day, especially in the proceeding of life-and-death and vicious criminal cases, when the further reinforce of the centralization. And in the evening of Hart dynasty, the heads of Jun eve could have the arbitrary power and do not appoint the other heads of county bureaucracy. Totally, the regional jurisdiction structure in Han dynasty embodies the saying that is 'the heads of the counties have the arbitrary power of execution' and is designed by the laws commonly. The basic situation of Han's jurisdiction is 'strictly abided by administrators, interpreted the hard cases by ministers and arbitrated by the emperor', which is so different from the criminal trial system that shaped gradually after Han dynasty.ChapterⅡfocus on the constitution of county judicial bureaucracy with the reviews of the criminal jurisdiction assignation and the relating authorities structures between them. This chapter includes two questions: one is the constitution of Xian judicial bureaucracy and two is the Jun's. Through the analyzing and synthesizing of the ancient classic and bamboo slips texts and materials, the author considers that the Xian judicial bureaucracy holding the criminal jurisdictions mainly are the Heads of county, Cheng(丞),Wei(尉) and the clerk of the county magistrate. They are Lingshi(令史),Yushi(狱史),Weishi(尉史),Shili(士吏),Guansefu(官啬夫),Laojian(牢监),Qiudao(求盗),Zeibuyuan(贼捕掾),Daocaoyuan(盗曹掾),Xiangsefu(乡啬夫),Tingzhang(Jiaozhang)亭长(校长),Youjiao(游徼),Xiangzuo (乡佐)and so on. The Heads of countyes, Cheng(丞),Wei(尉) are the direct bureaucracies of Xian and their jurisdiction authorities rooted in the laws that demand them to execute the criminal jurisdiction in a cooperated and divided way; The direct bureaucracies of Xian's designation are one county mgmagistrate,one Cheng(丞),two Wei(尉) generally and different designations of Cheng(丞),Wei(尉) in some peculiar Xian; They are examinated by two standards which are contribution and honest and clean and some of the root bureaucracies may promoted to the directors which are broken the rules as their especial contribution in jurisdiction. And the sub-bureaucracies of Xian are Shaoli(少吏) and Xianglin(乡吏),Tinglin(亭吏).The designations of Xian's bureaucracies have the uniform items and the different members and comparing with the period of early-Western Han and the later-Western Han or the Eastem Han, the items and members changed and expanded in the later time. Meanwhile the Jun bureaucracies holding the criminal jurisdictions mainly are The Shou,Cheng,Shoucheng of the prefectures and The clerk of the prefectures magistrate. They are Douli(都吏),Zushi(卒史),Duyou(督邮),Juecao(决曹),Zeicaoyuan(贼曹掾),Shuzuo(书佐) and so on. The authorities of hearing, judgment and adjudication of The Shou,Cheng,Shoucheng of the prefectures are empowered by the early-Han's laws; The ones appointed by the prefectures are Douli(都吏),Wuhaili(毋害吏)and Duyou(督邮)。They have a close relationship but are different that Douli(都吏) has the jurisdiction at early time then Duyou(督邮) becomes the unique supervisor of the Jun, which shows that the enforcement of the supervising of Xian's jurisdiction by the central government and the delicated divides of the Jun bureaucracies; The designations of Jun's bureaucracies were simpler than the Xian's and the items and members expanded in the Mid-Han period. According to Han's bamboo slips, the bureaucracies of Duyou(督邮), Juecao(决曹),Zeicaoyuan(贼曹掾) probably appeared in the Mid or Later-Han period demonstrates that the central status of Xian's jurisdiction in early Han and the expansion of Jun's judicial powers after the Mid-Han period.ChapterⅢfocus on the composing of the jurisdiction of the county bureaucracy with the reviews of the major criminal judicial powers and functions. It discusses the question as following: one is the composing of the jurisdiction of Xian's bureaucracies and two is the Jun's. By author's prudent studies from the texts and materials mentioned above, it is proofed that Xian's bureaucracies have broad judicial authorities in Han dynasty, which are the powers of acceptance and hearing, impeachment, arrest, investigation and adjudication and so on. The laws of Han empower the authorities of hearing and impeachment to the judicial bureaucracies of Xian and they also have the authorities of arrest and investigation according to these cases they are given the powers above and could adopt a serial restraining measure such as arrest, seizure and interrogation etc. The Xian's judicial bureaucracies have the jurisdiction of common criminal cases and are entitled to question, interrogate and judge in the proceeding of jurisdiction. Furthermore, Xiancheng(县丞),Lingshi(令史),Yushi(狱史),Guansefu(官啬夫),Tinzhang(亭长) so on are in charge of the certain execution in a criminal cases, including sending the prisoners and seizure their belongings etc. And the Xian could transfer the cases that the laws demand them to report and review or the hard ones to the Jun's judicial bureaucracies to adjudicate. The jurisdictions of the Jun's bureaucracies mainly embody in judgments, adjudications, transfers, reports, reviews, records and other assistances and administrations etc. On the contrary, the Jun's judicial bureaucracies could accept the cases that the offenders with the ad hoc status in the society and the life-and-death or vicious criminal ones directly; And when they circuit around the counties, the civil cases may accepted. Meanwhile, the Jun's are entitled to transfer the undecided hard cases to the central judicial bureaucracy('tinwei') that is named "transfers"; and the Jun's have the reviews authorities of capital crime, misfeasance and killing in the playgame in their dominated regions and also the appealing cases in their districts. Through the Jun's of the circuit the Xian's prisons and exam the documentation of sentences written by the Xian's bureaucracies, they would supervise their underlings' jurisdiction. Furthermore, the Jun's sometimes could join the mixed administration with the central bureaucracies to handle the special criminal cases together.ChapterⅣfocus on the proceeding of the jurisdiction of the county bureaucracy in Han dynasty with the discussion of how these bureaucracies start, end and actualize the state jurisdiction of criminal cases. It comprises of three parts: one is the start; two is end and three is the actualization of the jurisdiction. By the author's researches of the voluminous materials, the county bureaucracy pursue the elementary principle of 'no impeachment, no jurisdiction' as the proceeding starts. In the system of 'impeachment' in Han dynasty, the informers includes the victims and their relatives, the insiders of the cases, the crimes who surrender first and the "Tingshili(廷士吏)"; and the judicial bureaucracies must sensor the 'impeachments' in order to dismiss such impeachments that a son v. his parents, a wife v. her father-in-laws, slaves v. their master and his parents and wife or the informers not become of age and are prisoners themselves. At the same time, the authorities must investigate the criminal liabilities that accuse falsely and false accusation without malice. When the Xian's judicial bureaucracy accept an 'impeachment', they may adopt the criminal restraining measures that investigation, i.e. surveying, obtaining, verification, investigation on the spot, coroner's exams and arrests normally. The directors of 'impeachment' are the county bureaucracy with a complicated proceeding that reports the written complaint of 'impeachment'. Therefore, the start of the jurisdiction of the county bureaucracy in Han dynasty represents two combined characters: one is the passive form and another is the active form as the result of the judicial system without the division of investigates inspection, trial and execution. On the opposite side, the way of the end of the jurisdiction of the county bureaucracy in Han is commonly through the trialing. The generate steps are following: sending the documentation of sentences first, i. e. the law-officers who in charge of the investigation should send the physical and documentary evidences and witnesses to the judges. Then, 'questioning' is the formal procedure when the county bureaucracies make the 'cross-exam' in the court; 'judgment' is the step to identify the facts about the case; and 'adjudication' is the one to quote the laws by the identified facts then give a judgment; the last one is the procedure of execution of the criminal cases, i. e. the actualization of the jurisdiction after the county bureaucracies enable to make a judgment, which is mainly including: the seizure and confiscation of the families' belongings of the offenders; pronouncing the execution to the relatives; carrying out the death penalty; transferring the ones who are given the imprisonment; the execution of economic punishments and so on.ChapterⅤfocus on the checks of the jurisdiction of the county bureaucracy in Han dynasty with reviews of how the state adopt the legislative, administrative and supervising measures to check the judicial powers of the county bureaucracy under the situation of 'the heads of the counties have the arbitrary power of execution'. Through the author's studies, the checks of these powers in Han embody in some aspects: the rules of laws, the supervising of administration and jurisdiction. Firstly, the laws of Han rule the crimes of malfeasance of the county bureaucracy in the processes of the jurisdiction, specific way are following: no impeachment but hearing judged not by the trialing or misdemeanor with the excess punishments or punish the informers in the starting procedure; unawareness, incompetence, acceptance without the judgment, "fuyanxianting(弗言县廷)","funengde(弗能得)" and sojourn etc. in the restraining measures adaptation; transferring without authorities, injustice, release a prisoner privately "fuqiongshen(弗穷审)","shixing(失刑)","fenglisharen (风吏杀人) ", blowing and gaffing in a trial. Secondly, the checks of the administration carry out the ways that the central government restraint the actions of the county bureaucracy including the specific policies below: to set up the system of "Yiqueshangshu(诣阙上书)" for the officers and the people to appealing directly; to set up the system of circuit special envoy to correct the injustice cases for binding the actions of the directors of the county bureaucracy. Lastly, the checks of the central government embody that it assign the bureaucracy of "cishi" to restrict the criminal jurisdiction of the county bureaucracy and find out the illegal actions and misfeasance. Moreover, the central government put out the system of private prosecution to double-rule the officers and the people with the procedures of reviews the injustice cases, corrects the wrong judgments, punish the misconduct officers for the same purpose. However, all the systems set up in Han have the historical demerits.ChapterⅥfocus on the judicial styles of the county bureaucracy in Han dynasty with reviews of the styles and attitudes concerning the jurisdiction in execution. In the period of Han dynasty, the styles of jurisdiction are various and different but the main aspect is 'more question and less evidences', 'strictly abided by the laws', 'ferocious and powerful punishment', 'to build the authority by killing' and 'keep the principles of natural laws', etc. This chapter emphasizes on three of the styles above in order to show the development and the specific characters of Han's jurisdiction styles. Furthermore, the style of 'ferocious' appeared in the evening of the domination of Emperor Han Jingdi and flourished in the period of Emperor Han Wudi and handed down until the end of Han dynasty. The jurisdiction of 'cruel officers' share the common trait that is ferocious but have a complicated and different specifications: some of them are overwhelming the despots, looking coldly on the authorities and nobles, effective workings, honest and clean, keeping on duties; and others are corrupted and taking the bribes, building the personal authorities and capabilities by killing, against the laws, giving life or death by emotions, depending on misinterpret the written documents to frame the innocence into the prison. Surprisingly, the 'cruel officers' are heaven and earth different about their moral principles. Otherwise, the style of 'keep the principles of natural laws' initiated in the early-Han, streamed in the period of Emperor Han Xuandi and carried on in the end of Han, which affected the Confucian jurisdiction. This style of jurisdiction originate form the Confucianism and this kind of officers bring it into the judicial practice in Han dynasty. The community share the common point mentioned above which are the principles of state and policy, nobles and minister, laws and jurisdiction and the axiom and justice of the society. And the specific policies are following: virtue as the foundation; courtesy, administration and laws as the measures with the attitudes of the systemization of tolerance and punishment, keeping the golden means, depending, on the classics and enforcing the powers, taking the laws and principles, the affection and rules into a prudent consideration.ChapterⅦfocus on the major factors that impact the actions of the county bureaucracy in Han dynasty with the reviews of the factors which bring the active or passive impacts on the jurisdiction including the varieties of the political and legal aims, the transformation of legal cultures, the changes of the social structures, the designation of systems and royal power etc. The policies of jurisdiction in Han were pushed by the emperors that 'tolerance' in early-Han, 'cruel officers and ferocious punishments' in Wudi, 'combination of Confucianism and Legalism' in Xuandi, 'virtue first' to 'penalty first' in early-Eastern Han and the total Confucianism rules etc. Therefore, every direction changes have a close relationship with the styles, the attitudes of the jurisdiction of the county bureaucracy. The legal cultures in Han whirled from the Taoism-basis to multi-policies then stream into the Confucianism after Wudi that heavily impact the processes of the county's jurisdiction. Wherein, the certain practice are that adjudicating suits in line with the spirit of 'Spring and Autumn' and other Conficianist classics, regional administrating by the Confucianism, moralizing and humanizing in jurisdiction and emphasizing on the peacemaking etc. Meanwhile, the social structures fluxes also bring a significant effect on the jurisdiction, especially the expanding of regional despots and patriarchal clans, the squires by annexing the lands and the development of influential dealers that affect the jurisdiction in somewhat extent. Thirdly, another factor that affecting is the legal systems themselves in Han dynasty. As the 'contribution' as the standards of examining the officers, the officers have to chase the superficial high effectiveness through the way of building their authorities and capabilities by killing and cruelty. Therefore, the designation of the responsibility system of the courts itself affects the condition that the county bureaucracy would be abided by the laws directly. Last factor that give the active and passive affection on the jurisdiction of the county bureaucracy would be the royal power. The emperor betters the justice, the laws, and the punishment; the conditions of the regional jurisdiction would be better. By the contrast, if the emperor take a blinding eye on some officers that are injustice, corruptive, superficial effective and beyond the laws, or even partly empower the 'arbitrary' to the county bureaucracies would be one of the vital reasons of the 'catabolization' of jurisdicti'on of the county bureaucracy in Han dynasty.