Research On The Family Law In Qin And Han Dynasties

Family law, aiming at regulating the relationship among the family members, isthe important element of the Chinese ancient laws, including criminal law，civil lawand law and discipline rite from common law. As a branch of jurisprudence， familylaw is the important supplement to the national law and even the essential means tocontrol families. Family law is acknowledged by national law and is carried out bycoercive force of the state, for the adjustment of social relationship and peace ofsocial order.Family law in Qin and Han Dynasty played an important role in political andhouseholds system， which involves the crime problems in criminal law， theproblems of inheritance and marriage in civil law. The study of family law in Qin andHan Dynasty and the relevant issues not only concerns the origin, development of theFamily Law, but also offers an accurate acknowledgement to the Law. What is more,this study makes us have a more comprehensive and profound understanding andknowledge of the laws and decrees in Qin and Han Dynasty.Some progress as has been made by historians, there still exist some inadequatematerials on our way to a successful research. Three factors needs to be furtherdiscussed and negotiated. One is that there is not a book which is complete andsystematic. The second is the study of family law is not comprehensive. Accuratelyspeaking, there still exists a lack of explanation not only on the relationship betweenFamily Law and other relevant laws but also on the interaction and inter-performanceamong different items within Family Law. The third is the lack of location to theFamily Law, namely, only few scholars discuss the family law in the Chinese legalsystem and most people only expounded the family crime or the inheritance problemin civil law.The dissertation takes the family law in Qin and Han Dynasty as the angle ofview and discusses comprehensively the development of it. Through the discussion ofthe family form in Qin and Han Dynasty and the legal relationship among familymembers， the family crime， the family inheritance and the system of marriage inthe family law in Qin and Han Dynasty are discussed in order to draw the outline ofthe status and the role of family law in the study of the laws and decrees in Qin andHan Dynasty.The main body consists of four chapters.The first chapter discusses the family form of Han Dynasty. This chapterconsists of four sections. The first section expounds the formation of the smallfamilies. With the development of the productivity，the clan organization began tocollapse and the small families became the independent productive unit breakingaway from the control of the clan.The second section explains the family form of HanDynasty, which is illustrated in three aspects:(1) the family form after the reform ofLord Shang and (2) the family form reflected from “living together” and “familycrime” in bamboo slips of Qin Dynasty at Shuihudi;(3) the family form reflected in household registration bamboo slips at Liye. Summarily, the conclusion comes outthat the family form of Qin Dynasty is mainly core family and stem family. The thirdsection demonstrates that the family form in the period of Xi Han is still based on thecore families and stem families. The fourth section mainly illustrates the developmentof clan in later period of Xi Han. With the development of the power of great houseand under the influence of the national policies and the concept of filial piety， thescale of clan expanded increasingly.The second chapter discusses the succession of identity. This chapter consists ofthree sections. The first section expounds the title inheritance in Qin Dynasty from thefollowing aspects： whether Young Successor Placement Decree existed or not; theimplication of the successor， the identity of the successor and the right of thesuccessor. The second section discusses the title inheritance in Han Dynasty from thefollowing aspects： the legal procedure of inheritance; the legal order of the heir; theprinciple of the inheritance; women’s title inheritance. The third section discusses thehouseholder inheritance from the following aspects： the order of the heir; little afterfor household; woman for household; maid for household; the principle of inheritanceand the punishment of cheating generation for household， etc. The fourth sectiondiscusses the inheritance of property in Han Dynasty. This chapter consists of twosections. The first section mainly discusses the way of inheritance. The second sectionexpounds the property right of children in Han Dynasty. Woman， as the vulnerablegroups， could not only form family， but also inherited the property of the maidenand the husband’s family in a particular situation.The third chapter discusses the law of marriage in Qin and Han Dynasty. Thischapter includes two sections. The first section discusses the following five problems：the form of marriage， the establishment of marriage， the dissolution of marriage，the scope of marriage and responsibility and obligation of man and wife. The secondsection discusses the law of marriage in Han Dynasty which includes the form ofmarriage， the age of marriage， the dissolution of marriage and procedure ofmarriage， etc.The fourth chapter discusses the problem of family crime in Qin and HanDynasty. This chapter consists of two sections. The first section discusses the crimeamong relatives and draws the conclusion that the measurement of penalty wasdifferent because husbands were more dignified than wives and fathers were moredignified than sons although everyone had their own right to life. The second sectiondiscusses the punishment for being related to someone who has committed an offenceduring Qin and Han Period， which was the effective way of social control by thegovernment. It reflects the feature of criminal conjoint in ancient laws.Conclusion can be drawn based on the above analysis: The family form wasmainly core family and stem family. The joint family was very few. The physical formof family has become the basic unit of bearing the national taxes and the basic unit ofcompulsory labor. Hence, the Han government issued such strict and delicate lawsystems as citizenship regulations and other laws to enforce a strong control on thefamilies. The stability of the family order is of great significance for the social order.The family law in Qin and Han Dynasty originated from the patriarchal system inpre-Qin period that was the legal norm of adjusting the relationship among family members including criminal law， law of succession and law of marriage.In short， family law in Qin and Han Dynasty， as the important element of thesystem of laws and decrees in Qin and Han Dynasty， enriched the contents of thelegal history of Qin and Han Dynasty， maintained the social order and reflected thedifference of ancient laws such as respect for seniority and women’s being inferior tomen, which took a toll to the followed law systems in a long run.