The Research On Penal Systems Of Qin And Early Han Dynasties

The research on the punishment regime and penalty system of Qin and early Han Dynasty had been stagnating before the discovery of the Sleeping Tiger Slips(Qinjian).When these bamboo slips were unearthed in 1975,on which the legal provisions of Qin were written,it became possible for a thorough study on the penalty system of that period.Then in 1983,some legal relics of the early Xihan dynasty were discovered in Zhangjiashan,which provided valuable materials and enabled the relevant research on a more solid foundation.Besides,the two batches of historical references are separated by about 40 years,and their combination supplies a comprehensive basis for a more precise and systematic discussion of the issue of "Han carried on Qin' system"(Han Cheng Qinzhi).Moreover,the gap in time between the two means that these data may imply the evolution of the punishment regimes,as well as the origin and the rise and fall of the specific penalty systems.Qin slips from Yuelu Academy and from Liye were found successively.The former is based on The Qin Decree,and the latter is famous for the rich information on the management of prisoners and their sentences.In addition,some legal contents were also recorded in the Hanjian found in northwest China.All of these relics make it practicable to picture the punishment regime and penalty system of the Qin and early Han Dynasties.In 167 BC,Emperor Wen of the Han dynasty ended the old institution by reforming the penalty system.If taking this time as the end point and retrospectively looking at the Hanjian of Zhangjiashan and the Qinjian of Sleeping tiger,the fundamental context of the whole Qin and early Han' penalty system could be sorted out.This thesis examines the punishment regime and penalty system of Qin and early Han Dynasty,presents the actual forms of Chinese criminal punishment,and reconstructs the system of penalty types in that historical period.It consists of four chapters.The first chapter is an introduction,explaining the research background,object,scope,methods,previous studies and remaining issues.In this part,the author also highlights the nature of the research materials used for the research of the project.Chapter two discusses the origin and essence of "Xing".After a philological analyzing,the author identifies the multiplicity of the meaning of "Xing" from the semantic evolution process.In the Qin and early Xihan dynasties,however,"Xing" mainly referred to "corporal punishment(Rouxing)".Considering “the two-in-one approach” of military and punishment in ancient times,this chapter with the notion "an eye for an eye(Tonghai Xing)” and “punishment by reflection(Fanying Xing)" found the main origins of ancient Chinese punishment,i.e.the war and the revenge.The third chapter combs the penalty system of Qin and early Xihan Dynasties,focusing on and expanding from its specific forms.It is suggested that the origins of “Xing” determines its nature,and the nature determines its function.The basic functions of punishment are distinguishing,marking,and humiliating.The author finds,during the historical period dealt with in this thesis,that the main forms of punishment were death,punishment,and tolerance.This chapter confirms their mutual relations,corrects the erroneous understanding of the relationship between corporal/tolerance and hard-labor punishment in previous studies,and thus reconstructs the penal system of that period.Furthermore,the author emphasizes that the hard-labor was an inferior form to the corporal punishment as it was a natural extension of the latter.Therefore,penal servitude cannot independently have a status in the penalty hierarchy.Only by recognizing this point,can the whole penalty system be built up with balance,order,and coherence.Chapter four presents the influence of emperor Wen's reform on the ancient Chinese penalty system.This reform ended the old regime of Qin and early Xihan Dynasties,changed the situation of corporal punishment,and developed a more reasonable punishing way which was mainly penal hard-labor.Throughout the full thesis,the following views put forward are innovative in certain senses.First,the paper brings the penal form of servitude into the type of corporal and tolerance punishment,and cancels its hieratical being in the penalty system.Thus,penal servitude is no longer a solo punishment or a supplementary one.Secondly,it is clarified that the essence of corporal punishment was to identify the criminals among people.The criminals who were punished would be negated in personality and reputations,resulting in the effect of "civil death".Consequently,it is only one aspect,even not the main one that the punished felt physical pain.Third,it is found that the system of "five punishments(Wuxing)" developed gradually,and was not as neat and orderly as it appeared in the Qin and Han Dynasties.Each penal form has its own origin and application.All kinds of forms became relatively mature after a long period of adjustment.In other words,the title and the rank of a specific penal form in the old regime were neither "made" out of it,nor done overnight.Its development had gone through a long period of time,from having many types that were not neat to having fewer and serialized ones.