Research On Legislation Against Corruption From Hongzhi To Wanli In Ming Dynasty(1488-1620)

In the Ming Dynasty,the governance against corruption has always been concerned by the academic circles,which is mainly focused on the early stage of the Ming dynasty.In the early Ming Dynasty,the consequences of political corruption at the end of the Yuan Dynasty shocked Zhu Yuanzhang(the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty),thus in his policy agenda,the “doctrine of severe punishment” on acts of corruption was prosecuted to the end.In the criminal law of the Min Dynasty,punishment for corruption was more severe than that in Tang and Yuan laws.What's more,in order to prevent extrajudicial case,Zhu Yuanzhang had also developed “Da Gao”,its torture was far more severe than that in criminal law of the Min Dynasty.Even so,in dealing with corruption related cases,a large number of extrajudicial tortures still existed.But,“server provisions on corruption” did not receive the desired results,in the whole Hongwu governance period,corruption always existed.Meanwhile,Zhu Yuanzhang also stipulated that future generations could not change the “Constitution” he established.With the development of social politics and economy,“Ancestral constitution” was more and more inadequate in regulating and adjusting social relations.And the rules began to appear jumbled and conflicting,which had an adverse effect on the authority and effectiveness of law.In this case,voice of the amendment to the law based on times was more and more high,after a series of debates,the Punishment Ordinance was finally published in the 13 th year of Hongzhi,since then,“law and precedent worked together”.A total of two revisions had been carried out on the Punishment Ordinance in Jiajing and Wanli periods,and in Jiajing period,it was formally attached to the law,which created the “combined issue of law and precedent” form of codification,this form was also inherited by the law in Qing Dynasty.The primary progressive after the appearance of Punishment Ordinance was breaking the binding of “Laws handed down from forefathers unchanged” on law development,which became an important part of the guiding ideology of legislation,and provided premise for the development of law according to local conditions and the circumstances,and played a positive role in avoiding the rigidity of law.Specific to the governance of corruption,the Punishment Ordinance strove to correct the doctrine of severe punishment in the criminal law of the Min Dynasty,mainly reflected in reducing the application of death penalty,while used massive exile,ransom and administrative penalty to replace criminal penalty.This kind of relief reflected the legal thought of "killing less" and "killing carefully",conformed to the trend of rational development of law,it was a kind of progress.Meanwhile,dealing with corruption by Punishment Ordinance was more specific and detailed,which made provisions on new problems not involved in criminal law of the Min Dynasty.It played a better role of “precedent assisting law”.It must be admitted that,the Punishment Ordinance had progressiveness in terms of legislation for the early Ming Dynasty,but,it still not solved the problem of corruption.That is,on the issue of corruption,there was a gap between legislative purpose and actual effect in Punishment Ordinance as the early Ming Dynasty legislation,the larger the gap,the more limited the effectiveness of the implementation of the legislation.To study the legislation of this period,and explore the gap between the legislative purpose structure and the effective structure,it helps us to think about how to narrow the gap between the legislative purpose and the actual effect in the legislation,so as to promote the perfection of the system.In addition,study on the legislation cannot do without the legislative text itself,but not only just starting from the legislative texts,legislation is to solve the practical problems of society,therefore,it is necessary to consider the influence of the development of social politics,economy and culture on legislation.Conversely,if studying from the legislative results,it can also reflect the social,political and economic development in a certain period.Legislative achievements in the early Ming Dynasty were presented by criminal law of the Min Dynasty,Da Gao,Daming order,while in mid late stage,presented by Punishment Ordinance.In the early Ming Dynasty,especially at Hongwu,the “doctrine of severe punishment” was used,“severe provisions” under this guiding ideology did not play a good effect,but "terrorism" appeared in social and political life.In the Punishment Ordinance,relief was the main idea in legislative guiding ideology,the practice of reducing punishment and killing was in line with the rational development trend of human social history.However,this kind of legislation had its positive influence,but also it did not achieve the desired effect on corruption governance in officialdom in the late Ming Dynasty.Therefore,it is necessary to study the limited effect of the implementation of the legislation in this period,because the legislation should not only pursue the establishment of a reasonable system,but also make the reasonable system to bring into effect.Through research,in the case of ruling by man,in the process of legislation and judicial practice,legislative subject and legal secretary were inevitable to make concessions to various interest groups and power groups,this was an important reason for the limited effect of the implementation of legislation in the Ming dynasty.There was another feature in corruption legislation from Hongzhi to Wanli in Ming dynasty was that the central inspection and local officials issued a large number of the Annunciation notices,which were more than the previous dynasties,as well as the early Ming Dynasty.These poster notices made provisions for some specific matters according to provisions and spirit of central legislation against local specific circumstances,including many prohibitions,as well as interpretation and ingemination to the central legislation,they also belonged to the legal source.These poster notices were made under the premise of abiding by the spirit of the central legislation,which also combined with local actual situations.Therefore,they were not only easy to be implemented and accepted,but also good supplement and promotion of central legislation,as well as the bridge between the central legislation and the local actual communication.Thus,it should be combed and studied.In a word,from the carding and research on legislative texts on corruption in Hongzhi to Wanli in Ming dynasty,two aspects of the achievements and limitations of the legislation in this period are explored in this paper,and further explore the reasons behind it to sum up experience and lessons,the aim is to provide reference for modern construction of the rule of law.In the course of the study,the article intends to achieve the research objectives through the following structure:In the introduction part,this paper mainly expounds the significance of the topic,and considers the corruption legislation in Hongzhi to Wanli in Ming dynasty was more progress than previous phases,however,due to the prevalence of corruption in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,the legislative achievements of this period were easy to be ignored.Therefore,it is necessary to make a detailed analysis and further study.Moreover,the study of local legislation in this period has not been paid enough attention,and it should be included in the scope of the legislative research in this period.Moreover,the study of the legislation in this period,in theory,can sum up the experience and lessons of history,so as to understand the effectiveness of the rule of law in the Ming dynasty.At the same time,the paper studies the linkage between the central and local legislation,and on the basis of this,it further explores the legal structure and the effectiveness of the ancient Chinese legal system,and explores how to build a reasonable system and how the system works well.In the practical sense,it can be used for reference to make the legislative achievements in all aspects of society have a good interaction,at the same time,how to ensure the authority,stability and unity of law in the development of social change will be also studied.What's more,previous academic research results are also reviewed in this part,and eight aspects of academic history of the research results of the construction of clean government and supervision mechanism in Ming Dynasty,research results of corruption in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,research results of the Ming Dynasty imperial clan and official crime,research results of the relationship between plant protection and justice in Ming Dynasty,research achievements of cabinet in Ming Dynasty,research results of the Ming Dynasty Criminal Punishment Ordinance,research achievements of local legislation in Ming Dynasty and other related research results are focused on carding.By sorting out the academic history and understanding of previous academic research,it is found that research on Punishment Ordinance and local legislation is still relatively weak compared to research in the early Ming Dynasty,which finds the research focus for the study.Moreover,the introduction clarifies the research methods of the article,namely,the method of textual research,comparative study and comprehensive analysis.In chapter 1,one stage division on the corruption legislation in Hongzhi to Wanli in Ming dynasty is made.Primary standard of division is the release time of the three versions of Punishment Ordinance,including the following reasons: 1,the Criminal Punishment Ordinance was the most important legislative achievement in the mid and late Ming Dynasty,which broke the shackles of ancestral constitution on law development,and the combined version of codification of law was also innovative to the whole ancient Chinese code,and the style was directly inherited by the Qing dynasty.In the content,the Criminal Punishment Ordinance had made adjustment on the provisions against new situations of society in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,which played a good complement and auxiliary role for the Ming Dynasty law and the early Ming Dynasty legislation.And for the "severe punishment legislation in early Ming dynasty",it made adjustment on relief provision,to some extent,it alleviated the drawbacks brought by the "severe provisions”;2,as basis for adjudication,the Punishment Ordinance remained unchanged from its release in 13 th year in Hongzhi period to formally attached to the law in Jiajing period,firmed in Wanli period,its authority and stability were much higher than other regulations;3,the revision and promulgation of three versions of Punishment Ordinance had different backgrounds,and reflected the development and change of the legislative guiding ideology.In Hongzhi period,it was controversial,finally,the idea of "potential legislation" occupied a dominant position,this was the ideological premise of Punishment Ordinance;during Jiajing period,there was few dispute on the revision of Punishment Ordinance,but there were officials still opposed,and influenced by the “Great rites controversy”,the Punishment Ordinance in Jiajing period was not published until 29 th year of Jiajing;To the Wanli period,the law should be amended in time to become the mainstream ideology of the central level,so there were no controversy and twists and turns to the revision of Punishment Ordinance in Wanli period,and central legislation revision reflected a kind of consciousness.After the Punishment Ordinance published in the 13 th year of Wanli,the amendment to the Criminal Punishment Ordinance had basically been completed,later,in the 48 th year of Wanli,there were sixteen new regulations incorporated.Since then,to the end of Ming Dynasty,it was no longer revised.Whether it is from the importance of legislative achievements or reflected change of legislative guiding ideology during amendments,the Punishment Ordinance shall be taken as the primary criteria for the division of legislative development stages.In addition to the legislation at the central level,this period was the active period of the local legislation in the Ming Dynasty,while the stage embodiment of local legislation was not that obvious than that of Punishment Ordinance.But,from the current content of the local legislation,it rapidly developed in the middle and later stage of Jijing,then in Wanli period,the quantity was nor lager than that of late Jiajing Dynasty,however,the overall development was still prosperous than the early Ming dynasty.Therefore,in the division of the legislation of corruption legislation in this period,the development of legislation of the Criminal Punishment Ordinance should be taken as the basic standard,and development of local legislation as supplement.In chapter 2,the legal source of the legislation against corruption from Hongzhi to Wanli is sorted out.As the contents of criminal law of the Min Dynasty had little effect on realistic adjustment,but,as “ancestors' system” deeply rooted in social and political life,it was still the most basic and important code of the Ming dynasty.In the amendment of Punishment Ordinance,it was clearly mentioned that the precedent should be used as supplement rather than the law,and in codification,it was attached to the law.Daming law was the primary source of law in this period.In this law,crime of bribery was divided into six types: embezzle,financial pervert,not capricious by financial pervert,corruption offence,ordinary theft and theft,in this six categories,ordinary theft had not associated with theft and corruption.Peculatus was typical of corruption,and not in vain by the financial pervert the law was the crime of bribery crime,difference was that different bribery and perverting the law was associated with law.The corruption offence was the most complicated,it was mainly used to punish dereliction of duty,but also closely related to corruption: 1,bribery pecuniary malfeasance;1,In addition to corruption and bribery,behavior of officials used his powers to obtain illegitimate profits;3,if some pecuniary malfeasance behaviors were related to concrete details,it would be transformed into peculatus or financial pervert crime.Besides,as a compilation of comprehensive legal documents,The record of laws and systems of Ming dynasty was still one of the sources of law.Punishment Ordinance,as the representative achievements of the legislation in this period,it was not only an important source of law,but also the focus of this paper.In the development of legislation,the three versions of Punishment Ordinance,it had its own logical relationship and evolution.But,each version of Punishment Ordinance was not just a simple copy of the previous version,in the revision process,it also made additions and creation on the basis of the actual situation of social development.Therefore,it can be said that each version of the “Punishment Ordinance” had its significance in the history of legislation.Besides,"Criminal Punishment Ordinance" in the legislation was known as “precedent assisting law",but because of its close connection with the social life,the the situation of "legal and precedent parallel" appeared in actual operation.Therefore,the Criminal Punishment Ordinance was an important source of law in this period.In addition to the above legal sources,assizes had its important legal meanings in China Imperial Society,moreover,assizes were not the conventional law decree,but it had the highest legal effect after the promulgation,therefore,the study of the origins of law must take into account the status and role of assizes.In the absence of "legislative law" provisions and the division of powers at all levels of legislative authority and scope,the nature of the treaty and proclamation notices released by the local officials of the Ming Dynasty was not as clear as it is today.However,these treaties and proclamation notices are combined with the actual situation of the local as the concrete implementation and supplement of central legislation,it was the bridge between the central legislation and the local reality.Moreover,some of them have mandatory effect that should also belong to the legal source.In chapter 3,study on the content of legislation of corruption in this period is carried out.Three main aspects are considered: cracking down on corruption crime,cracking down on bribery crime and combating corruption in special areas.Corruption and bribery are the most common crimes of corruption.In the law of Ming Dynasty,te crime of corruption was “embezzle”,but in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,the form of corruption crime was more complicated than that in the early Ming dynasty,therefore,in Punishment Ordinance,these crimes had also made provisions for punishment.There were two specific ways: 1,to sort out new forms of crime,and then make punishment on “embezzle”;2,specific criminal acts,circumstances and specific penalties were directly regulated,instead of the accusation of “embezzle”.But the latter still had the nature of corruption.So in the section of combating corruption,according to whether the use words like “embezzle”,it was made as a basis into two categories.Bribery and bribe-taking is the most common form.For bribery,there was no special charges on bribery in Daming law,only in some provisions of the specific penalties,and the Criminal Punishment Ordinance also followed this approach.However,for the crime of bribe-taking,whether it was "the law of Ming Dynasty" and “Punishment Ordinance”,all were specified as “financial pervert” and “not capricious by financial pervert”.The degree of punishment was not the same.At that time,the legislators also took into account the two special circumstances,1,under the social and political system,once persons with high social power and status asked for bribes from the lower in various ways,the latter was hard to resist;2,someone could introduce bribe by virtue of their social status or social relations.Both these two acts will had a bad impact on the normal social order,and it was also closely related to bribery crime.Therefore,there were provisions in the legislation on this.So in the classification,it should also be included in bribery crime.In the legislation on the issue of corruption,there were some special areas of content,which were mainly concentrated in three aspects: 1,Crime of corruption in the armed forces.Its particularity was first the function of the army,as a defense function,the army played a dominant role in maintaining the rule.The importance for the rulers was self-evident.In legislation,for internal corruption phenomena,the processing was often different from other departments.The purpose was to maintain the stability of the army in order and personnel,and ensure the normal realization of its functions.At the same time,it was precisely because of the particularity of military functions that corruption crime would appear but not in other government departments,for example,officer greed on soldiers military exploit,these also needed to be specified separately;2,The society in Ming dynasty was a hierarchical society under the imperial power,this determined the different levels of people enjoyed different rights,assumed different obligations.In general,the higher the level,the greater the rights and the smaller of obligations,and the lower the level,the smaller the rights and the larger the obligations.In addition,the imperial power management was impossible to each specific place and problems,which required support and work at all levels of officials.Therefore,for ruling class,it had to make concessions in legislation to ensure the stability of the internal structure of the ruling class.However,this concession also had the bottom line,it should not bring the impact of the entire ruling order.Moreover,people having the higher the social rank had the opportunity and ability to commit crime that people of low social class could not do,therefore,the corruption of ruling class were often separately specified in legislation;3,Economic crime in special fields,the most representative was the administration of the salt industry,as one of the most important means of subsistence,salt was under government monopoly in ancient China,the purpose was to control the lives of the people and bring a lot of revenue.To the Ming Dynasty,the salt system was established,which gave chances to officials and traders in corruption,some of the crimes that having never been before began to appear and gradually increase.Moreover,some salt producing officials found that some specific corruptions did not take into account in the central legislation during the process of salt production and transportation,therefore,they regulated this kind of behavior in their local treaties.Legislation relating to salt industry was a special representative due to the nature of the industry.In chapter 4,the implementation of legislation is discussed.In terms of legislative organs,previous discussion was focused on central or local judicial organs,however,on the exercise of the judicial power of imperial guards and espionage agency organs,in the past,it was summarized as "intervention" and "destruction".From the historical records,in the initial establishment of espionage agencies,they were given the right to justice,the emperors in the mid and late Ming Dynasty also recognized this,in the past,for the judicial authority of espionage agencies,the main reason for "intervention" and "destruction" were: 1,In the exercise of judicial power,espionage agencies often implemented extrajudicial tortures,and the ways were brutal and violent,which were criticized by people;2,in the exercise of judicial power,espionage agencies had close relationship with the Emperor,they did not exercise the power within the limits of their authority,but intervention and trespass of the powers of three authorities;3,the ruling eunuch had judicial power actually,but,the espionage agencies were often controlled by the ruling eunuch.But even so,on the issue of judicial power,there was still a legitimate source of power to espionage agencies,but the problem lied in the abuse of power and transgression,rather than espionage agencies exercised judicial power forcefully under completely powerless state.In terms of impeaching,correct judgment and execution on corrupt personnel,general officer handling was different because of the level and nature of the work and other reasons.In general,the higher the level,the more complex and the more cautious the process.As for the related imperial clan,it must be reported to the Emperor,and there was no fixed pattern for its final processing.In the aspect of torture,because of the relief legislative guiding ideology,the the scope of application had been extended,exile also started to be used widely,more importantly,the phenomenon of “substituting fines for criminal punishment” appeared for corruption Punishment,that is,the use of administrative penalties to replace the means of punishment.The change in the law on torture was of positive significance from the perspective of legal rationalism.Moreover,social problems resulted from the emperor clan,which were more serious than in the early Ming Dynasty,thus in legislation,management had been strengthened on these people.But,even the legislation of this period,there were still the rank and privilege laws,first of all,the benefits brought by relief legislation were the privileged class.Thus,to some extent,more privileges were given to the privileged class because of relief.In chapter 5,the characteristics of legislation for corruption are studied.From the legislative guiding ideology and the final legislative achievements,this period was generally reflected as relief.In the initial revision problem of Punishment Ordinance,there had been controversial on whether “laws handed down from forefathers” had been damaged,but the harsh legislation at the time had been reflecting on the disadvantages of the adjustment of social problems,these drawbacks were also recognized by officials at all levels,especially the judiciary.Therefore,after debate,when the amendment to the Criminal Punishment Ordinance became a reality,the law officials were also trying to correct the problems brought about by the previous law.In the content,the same crime also tended to take more light punishment.Officials at all levels of legislation in this period had very high enthusiasm,and the proportion of the role in the actual legislative process had increased.Before the revision of Punishment Ordinance in Hongzhi and Jiajing periods,many courtiers required this,and there was no dispute on the revision of Punishment Ordinance in Wanli because of the young Emperor,which was revised under the governance of courtiers led by Zhang Juzheng.And,even opposing views led to a lot of controversy in the revision of Punishment Ordinance in Hongzhi period,but the enthusiasm of courtiers also showed their focus on Legislation.In addition,the magistrates and central appointing officials were active to promulgate local treaties and proclamation notices at that time.These treaties and proclamation notices were targeted,and closely related with the local reality,as promulgated under the spirit of the central legislation and regulation,it was of positive significance to affirm the spirit of the central legislation and strengthen local governance.In codification,the appearance of “precedent assisting law” solved the shackles of “ancestral constitution” on legislative development,making “legislation based on physical truth” possible.It was of great significance for the development of law to meet the requirements of social development and change.Starting from Jiajing,the Punishment Ordinance was officially attached to the criminal law of the Min Dynasty,it was inherited by Qing dynasty.In legislation,Punishment Ordinance adopted the idea of “supplement” instead of “replacement”,making the content of the Ordinance possible to supplement and correct the deficiencies and shortcomings of some problems in the criminal law of the Min Dynasty,and tried to avoid conflict with the law.Therefore,the provision of “law and precedent parallel” can be well implemented.In chapter 6,some problems related to the legislation of corruption in this period are mainly studied.First of all,the relation between corruption legislation and social economy and politics.As known,economic development and operation is the internal driving force of social development,the economic base determines the superstructure including the law.The development of the social and economic situation has put forward new requirements for the development of law,and the development of law will react to economic development.In addition,from the grasp of the legal text,a certain period of economic situation can be understood.For example,when calculating the amount of economic crime in Punishment Ordinance,the “string” in Daming law was no longer used,this was related to the rapid depreciation of “paper currency” in Ming dynasty and the actual termination of the mid and late period;again,the royal clan members increased in mid late Ming dynasty,in the salary issue,it brought great pressure to the central and local governments,and this part of the people often privately occupied lands,which further affected the fiscal revenue.Therefore,the strengthening management was made on them in legislation.As for politics and law,they are closely related,especially in the political model of ancient Chinese society,there were many political factors influencing legislation,such as border security issues,it involved the corruption in the army,which would affect the stability and combat effectiveness of the army.And the exploitation of centrally-appointed nonhereditary official to border chieftains would cause the civil strife in southwest frontier;as the change of relationship between the monarch and his subjects,the rectifying officials and a large number of extrajudicial torture in early Ming was not conducive to the harmony and stability of the relationship between the monarch and his subjects,nor conducive to play the enthusiasm of local officials,therefore,it was necessary to adopt a relief legislation,etc..Secondly,the legislation in Hongzhi and Wanli in Ming dynasty had a greater impact on future generations.From the Ming Dynasty itself,there were less and less controversy in the amendment of Punishment Ordinance from Hongzhi to Wanli,and the view that the law should be amended in time became the mainstream knowledge.This made more and more self-conscious in the legislative revision of late Ming Dynasty,becoming a normal behavior.The main reflections was the Punishment Ordinance no longer revised since the amendment in Hongzhi,and new regulations incorporated till the 35 th year of Wanli.In addition,after Wanli,revised proposal on Punishment Ordinance was proposed,while it was not implemented as planned just because of increasingly sharp class contradictions and one after another Uprising in late Ming dynasty.As for the Qing Dynasty,at the beginning of its founding,almost all of the legislative achievements were inherited.In stylistic rules and layout,the “combination of statutes and precedents” was adopted,the codex was directly named as “Great Qing Legal Code”.In the regulations,in addition to a small part modified or disabled,most were directly inherited.But,with the gradual stabilization of the Qing regime,it began to revise and delete & add to the inherited regulations of the Ming Dynasty from Shunzhi period to Qianlong period.After the middle of Qianlong,this revision and deletions gradually stopped.However,this did not affect the great impact of the Ming Dynasty Ordinance on the Qing dynasty.Moreover,the development of the social situation in Qing Dynasty could also be seen through the change of the regulations after the establishment of the Qing dynasty.Finally,we can get some enlightenment by studying the legislation of corruption in this period.At that time,local officials were very enthusiastic about the legislation,they affected the legislation in two ways: 1,explaining the problems in current law by letters to the imperial court to promote the central level legislative amendments;2,issuing treaties and proclamation notices with local pertinence based on central legislation.This linkage and complementarity of each level in legislation helped to better use the law to carry out social governance,especially,it had positive significance to the management of grass roots.Unfortunately,the legislative and judicial at that time was in the social environment of man rule.It could not be independent from the limitations of the social context,the existence of the privileged class and concessions made by the emperor for the sake of governing made the governance corruption difficult to achieve substantive justice from both legislation and justice.Even the honest and upright official Hai Rui,it was impossible for him to have modern legal spirit and idea,and the suspicion of not according to law might exist in his handled cases---although the starting point was trying to win profits for “common people”.In summary,on corruption legislation from Hongzhi to Wanli in Ming dynasty,it all had progressive significance at that time no matter from legislative spirit,guiding ideology,legal form or contents.But its limitations could not be ignored because of times and historical reasons.It also enlightens us how to further pursue the establishment of reasonable system and effective implementation in the future social development,this is the due pursuit of social development.