Research On Judicial Power Of The Kaifeng Prefecture In The Northern Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty is a feudal society with higher legislation achievements in China.As the capital,Kaifeng was the political,economic and cultural center of the Northern Song Dynasty,Kaifeng Prefecture was the administrator of the capital city.Kaifeng Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty held a special status with dual attributes of being local and central and was closely connected with the imperial power.The judicial activities of Kaifeng Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty were the epitome of the judicial activities in the Song Dynasty.The study of the judicial power of Kaifeng Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty is the best point of penetration for research on the judicial activities and judicial system of the Song Dynasty.Kaifeng Fu Yin,Kaifeng Mu,Pan Kaifeng Fu Shi,Quan Zhi Kaifeng Fu,and Quan Fa Qian Kaifeng Fu are different appellations of the magistrates of Kaifeng Prefecture under different circumstances.Only Prince Yin Jing was entitled Kaifeng Fu Yin,the others were Kaifeng Mu,Pan Kaifeng Fu Shi,Quan Zhi Kaifeng Fu,or Quan Fa Qian Kaifeng Fu,but were generally termed Kaifeng Fu Yin among the people.Kaifeng Prefecture enjoyed a respected status,known as "Tianfu"(Tian means heaven or god),and those who could take the office of Kaifeng Prefecture generally had a high cultural quality with both political integrity and professional competence.In the Song Dynasty,with urban economic prosperity,civil society was constantly expanding.Following the collapse of the urban Fang system,Xiang-Fang system came into being.With the establishment of Xiang,four levels of administrative agencies of Kaifeng Prefecture,Du Xiang,Xiang and Fang took shape in Kaifeng City.The establishment of Kaifeng Fu Jie Tidiansi divided Kaifeng into "within capital" and "fu jie"(meaning prefecture scope).Kaifeng Magistrate governed Kaifeng City and the suburbs,Kaifeng Fu Jie Tidiansi administrated the counties and towns in Kaifeng Prefecture.The mode of administrating of city-countryside separately replaced the mode of urban and rural condominium.The administration mode of Kaifeng in the Song Dynasty is the prototype of modern city administration.Duxiang,Xiang and Fujie all had certain jurisdiction.The establishment of these agencies reduced imprisonment and litigation pressure of Kaifeng Magistrate,making judicial resources better and optimally allocated.Chapter one analyzes the “playful interpretation” and historical facts about Kaifeng Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty.Kaifeng Magistrate,as the administrator of the capital,was honored as “champion of Fu”.Among the 170 magistrates with historical records,there were no lack of historical celebrities,such as Kou Zhun,Fan Zhongyan,Bao Zheng,Ouyang Xiu,LüYijian,Cheng Lin and Cai Jing.Kaifeng Magistrate was a crucial ladder to the central decision-making authority.During the Northern Song Dynasty's history of nearly 170 years,Kaifeng Prefecture played an important role in whether Xining reform or Jingkang Calamity.However,the knowledge of Kanfeng Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty among common people is mainly restricted to the detective dramas and fictions about Bao Zheng.The apotheosis of Bao Zheng,Kaifeng Magistrate makes people under the impression that Kaifeng Prefecture is an omnipotent judicial authority praising virtue and punishing vice that can bring trial to royal relatives and chop the heads of riffraff.The misinterpretation results from this.Chapter two introduces the historical evolution and constitution of mechanism of Kaifeng Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty.A total of 170 people who held the position of Kaifeng Magistrate during their 202 terms of office from the first year of Jianlong Era(960)to the seventh year of Xuanhe Era(1125)are analyzed one by one,drawing the collective characteristics of the chief administrator of Kaifeng Prefecture.Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty established Kaifeng Fu Jie Tidiansi,which was the prelude to the judicial system reform in the Song Dynasty and laid the foundation for the new pattern of judicial jurisdiction: local inspection officers,pickets in the capital criminal division and city-countryside separate jurisdiction in the prefectures.Chapter three is an introduction of the investigation,arrest and inquisition by torture of Kaifeng Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty.With Kaifeng Magistrate as the commander,the left and right military Xunshi,county Wei of the Chiji County(an official just below the head of the county),Xiang Jie Suoyou and Xunjian under its jurisdiction formed an arrest network from the village to the city.The left and right military Xunshi,county Wei,and Xiang officials were responsible for the arrest of thieves and brigands in the cities and county towns,while Xunjian were responsible for the thieves and brigands in villages and outer suburbs.Inquisition by torture in the Song Dynasty was more civilized.The torture system was precise and exquisite,specifying the subject,object and conditions of inquisition by torture.The judicial adjudication had achieved great breakthrough in the use of evidence and the status of oral confession as the king of evidence had been shaken.In some cases,as long as the evidence was irrefutable,conviction and sentence could also be made without oral confession.In the Song Dynasty,with flourishing economy and frequent commodity transaction,system of contract was well developed,and all kinds of contracts became vital evidence of civil disputes.The fourth chapter gives an account of the judicial trial and punishment of Kaifeng Magistrate in the Northern Song Dynasty.Kaifeng Magistrate had limited judicial jurisdiction.Crimes deserved punishment of whipping and flogging could be settled directly,while crimes of above imprisonment must be reported to the imperial court.In the early period of the Northern Song Dynasty,Kaifeng Magistrate took the liberty of adjudication,and even the death penalty cases were not reported to the emperor.The exercise of the judicial power of Kaifeng Magistrate had not been standardized until the ruling period of Emperor Zhenzong.Due to the feudalism of family-governed monarchic country,in the early period of the Northern Song Dynasty,the capital was mainly governed by Prince Yin Jing.The political function of Kaifeng Magistrate was more important than its judicial function,so the execution of the judicial function was not so normative.In the judicial trials of the Song Dynasty lay several important systems,serving as the important internal causes for judicial civilization formation in the Song Dynasty,namely,Ju Yan Fen Si system(separation of interrogation and judgment),Fan Yi Bie Kan system(in case that the convict denied his own oral confession,the case should be handed over to other judicial authority for trial),Lu Wen system(inquisition for a second time by officials who didn't attend the first trial)and the system of senior officer doing in person.On the one hand,the implementation of these judicial systems helped avoid the occurrence of miscarriage of justice and promoted the judicial civilization and progress.On the other hand,these were the vital reason for the enduring imprisonment in the Song Dynasty.The penalty system of the Song Dynasty basically followed that of the Tang Dynasty,but also underwent significant changes.And it created the method of converting into flogging,with which as the basis,the penalty system of the Song Dynasty continuously took in the reasonable contents of the previous generations and gradually developed and improved.On the nature of the method of converting into flogging,at present,opinions vary among scholars,and this paper holds that the argument that method of converting into flogging is substitution of penalty is advisable.The penalty system of the Song Dynasty consisted of two systems of original penalty and executive penalty,and the number of the flogging when the original penalty was converted into flogging was the executive penalty.The traditional five penalties of whipping,flogging,imprisonment,exile and capital punishment were principal penalty with Pei Li(being dispatched to be slaves),Bian Guan(being dispatched to a remote prefecture and included in the local household registration)and Yi Xiang(being forced to live in other prefecture or county)as supplementary punishment.Lu Qiu(reviewing the case of a condemned person)happened frequently in Kaifeng Prefecture,which were mostly conducted by the royal relatives.The contents of Lu Qiu were mainly pardoning,and redressing unjust verdicts or shortening jail time sometimes.One of the features of administration of prison affairs of Kaifeng Prefecture was the frequent reports of prison being empty.The prisons under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Magistrate were Junxunyuan prison,Silusi prison,Xiang prison and county prison,among which prison being empty of Kaifeng Prefecture specially referred to the left and right Junxunyuan prison and Silusi prison.The so-called prison being empty didn't mean the prison was really without a prisoner,but that all the detained cases had been settled.Reporting prison being empty to the emperor would get generous rewards,which led to making false reports of prison being empty.Kaifeng Prefecture achieved remarkable political accomplishments and enjoys imperishable reputation.There are three reasons for it: firstly,those who held the position of Kaifeng Magistrate generally had both political integrity and professional competence;secondly,Kaifeng Magistrate acted decisively and efficiently combining punishment with leniency;thirdly,Kaifeng Magistrate conducted strict supervision.