Humanism In The Judicial Culture Of Song Dynasty

"Humanism" refers to the trend of thoughts that arose during the European Renaissance, which was characterized not only by emphasis on the subjectivity and value of human being but also by respect and care for the rights of man. The connotation of'"humanism" in traditional Chinese culture is different from that of the European background in the sense that it is a moral spirit that imitates the law of heaven and earth, civilizes the society through rituals, and regulates the relationship between individuals and society, meanwhile pursues harmony between man and nature and man and society. It is the major and most conspicuous feature of traditional Chinese culture and has certain influence upon the development of traditional Chinese legal culture. Compared with the ruthless judicial practice of medieval Europe, traditional Chinese law reserved high regard for human life by advocating spare imprisonment, cautious punishment and education of virtues. Its recognition to kinship and family ties and sympathy for the disadvantaged group demonstrated a rich spirit of "humanism".The evident humanistic character expressed in the judicial culture of Song Dynasty is closely related to its peculiar historical background. Politics of Song Dynasty was relatively sensible and it was constantly marked with precautionary ideology. It was under this background that the judicial system of Song Dynasty emphasized the division of powers and supervision and established a relatively justified criminal litigation procedure and a restraint mechanism for the judges, which reflected the aspiration for justice at that time. The significant changes in the social structure, such as the upgrading of the social status of the servants, migrant inhabitants and the merchants considerably broadened the range of civil litigants. Therefore, scholar-bureaucrats then could not ignore the lawful rights of these groups during the trial of relevant cases. Consequently, high regards to lawsuits and concern for the sufferings of the public had become a spotlight of the judicial system of Song Dynasty, demonstrating respect for human existence and sympathy for the disadvantaged group. The development of commerce of had brought about great change to the traditional social values. which impelled the scholar-bureaucrats to change their conception concerning lawsuits. In addition, the rise of Neo-Song Xue, the harmonization of the three major philosophic schools and the relatively liberal cultural atmosphere rendered an unprecedented new climate during the rule of Song Dynasty.In Song Dynasty the rulers and scholar-bureaucrats were subjects of judicial movements, whose judicial concept determined whether the contemporary judicial culture was progressive or not and set the values of judiciary. Rulers of the Song Dynasty attached importance to law and advocated cautious use of imprisonment and careful appointment of prison guards. They also established a relatively high professionalized team of judges which attempted to guarantee legal, prompt and just sentencing.Scholar-bureaucrats of Song Dynasty reintegrated justice, human relationship and law into judicial practice and the uppermost state of mind they craved was to uphold law, to conform to human feelings and follow the principle of justice. However, law-officers in Song Dynasty often had to face conflicts between justice, human feelings and law. As a result, they always tried to make their sentencing as reasonable and just as possible within the range permitted by law. They dealt with the cases according to the actual situation, either by law, or by a flexible application of law, or simply by human feelings. Sometimes they even substituted law with human feelings by treating crimes against human feelings as more serious than those against the law.As far as jurisprudence is concerned, the relation between justice and the judicial system is most relevant. The justice of law could be realized only when it is enforced by the judiciary. The precise design of the legal system of Song Dynasty was a very good display of values of its judicial culture and its pursuit for judicial fairness and justice. The operation mechanism should foremost clarify the status and function of "man" in the system, and define its opinion on"man"—how to reveal the meaning of life and the value of human existence? How to protect the private properties of "man"? Therefore, the values of the judicial system directly determined the manner in which disputes were resolved.Scholar-bureaucrats of Song Dynasty would present themselves on courts during the train of cases, showing a flexible and practical attitude. They made efforts to moralize the concerned parties and took up the maintenance of morality as their responsibility. They gave high regards to the protection of the lawful rights of the disadvantaged groups. The judges in Song Dynasty interpreted the judicial values of that time with their action.However, there was also a serious discrepancy between legislation and practice in Song Dynasty. Well-intentioned systems and measures in the legislation, and the aspiration of some Scholar-bureaucrats for judicial fairness and justice could not be satisfactorily realized in practice. This is not a peculiar phenomenon in the judicial culture of Song Dynasty but an unavoidable historical limit of feudalist China.To sum up, it is an undeniable fact that there was humanism in the judicial culture of Song Dynasty, but the corruption of its judicial activities severely damaged the positive meaning of humanism.With the above mentioned structure and arrangements, and from the perspective of legal culture, this article intends to give a historical and logical interpretation of humanism in the judicial culture of Song Dynast. Based on the study of static institutional culture, dynamic judicial cases and the judicial philosophy of the legislators, it aims to form an integral humanistic mode of judicial research, through which the author reveals the rich humanism in the judicial culture of Song Dynasty and the theoretical and practical research made at that time to prevent grievance and protect the fairness and justice of law, and which. the author hopes. could shed some light on the construction of the legal system today.