Research On The Central Judicial Power Of Qing Dynasty From The Field Of Vision

Improving the operation mechanism of judicial power is an important part of the socialist rule of law.The major strategy of the CPC and the State on the overall law-based governance in an all-round way sets new and higher requirements for academic circles on the research of judicial power.It is a reasonable and feasible approach to study and draw lessons from Chinese traditional legal system and legal culture for current problems to be solved in the reform of judicial system.The Qing Dynasty is the last period of Chinese feudal monarchy,and also the most mature stage of ancient Chinese political system.The legal system and judicial system of Qing Dynasty are based on all kinds of effective systems in previous dynasties.The legal system of Qing Dynasty is also the beginning of the modernization of Chinese traditional legal system,which plays an important role in the history of Chinese judicial system.The experience and lessons provided by its legal practices are of great practical significance.The study of the central judicial power in the Qing Dynasty is based on the reinterpretation of the traditional legal system and its practice.The ultimate purpose of this paper is to shed light on how to improve the rule of law,and the operation and allocation of judicial power in today's China rather than simply describing and analyzing the legal practices in history.To achieve this purpose,the paper adopts the "field theory" by Bourdieu,the renowned French sociologist in hope of fostering a dialogue between the past and the present.Through the study of the central judicial power in the Qing Dynasty,this paper provides"local references" for the reform of current judicial system,especially for the improvement of the operation mechanism of judicial power.The introduction of this paper clarifies the concept of "judicial power".The broad concept of "judicial power"in the current academic discourse in China is further classified from the perspectives of"judicial power" as an imported language and the concepts in contemporary and traditional China.The literal expression of "judicial power" did not exist in the traditional Chinese discourse before it was introduced from abroad in the late Qing Dynasty.However,various words with similar connotation actually exist in the judicial field in the period of thousands of years of Imperial China.The ancient Chinese judicature and the modern judicature have both homogeneity and their unique development process and implication.The first chapter of the paper is the theoretical foundation of the central judicial field in the Qing Dynasty.At the beginning of the text,Bourdieu's field theory is introduced.By analyzing the features of the field theory,the functions of the judicial field,the related concepts of the field theory,and the logic of the field theory in practice,the field theory is used as the analysis tool for the research and writing of this paper.The rise and fall of the central judicial field in Qing Dynasty can be divided into budding stage,developing stage,mature stage and disintegration stage.It is concluded that the judicial field is one of the sub-fields derived from the meta-field.The rise and fall of the central judicial field in the Qing Dynasty was accompanied by the establishment,development,maturity and disintegration of the political power.The second chapter studies the realization path of the central judicial power in the Qing Dynasty.By summarizing and sorting out the allocation of local and central judicial powers under the judicial system of the Qing Dynasty,it is found that in judicial practice,the path of cases entering the central judicial field is not completely consistent with the legal provisions.The parties of the capital appealing cases adopt a series of litigation strategies to push the cases that could not enter the central judicial field into this field.Therefore,they themselves become the participants who are not entitled with judicial power but can affect the operation of judicial power,thus realizing their own purposes.The reason for this phenomenon is the low autonomy of the central field in nature.The subject of the central judicial power is inevitably influenced by both the social field and the power field.However,the process of field reshaping the external environment,to a certain extent,makes the central judicial power of the Qing Dynasty independent.The third chapter studies the capital distribution and competition of the central judicial power.By looking at the history of official legal education before the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the author makes a cross comparison of the ways in which officials obtain legal knowledge capital and the differences in their legal literacy or judicial skills.It is concluded that the legal knowledge capital in the judicial field is not monopolized by the officials of the Ministry of Justice,but is the reallocation of qualifications of legal knowledge capital by the imperial power.As a result,the centralization of the authorities has been further strengthened.In the central judicial field in the middle and late Qing Dynasty,judicial skill capital was the capital with the highest exchange frequency in the process of competing for judicial power capital.This frequent exchange encourages the officials of the Ministry of Justice to study laws and improve judicial skills.The fourth chapter takes two kinds of special cases as examples to analyze the formation of habitus and field remodeling.The paper identifies whether the participants in the central judicial field of Qing Dynasty have the preferable tendency of habitus,and whether this habitus reshapes the judicial field.Based on the analysis of legal norms and judicial practices and the value-oriented terms of officials in judicial archives,it is concluded that the habitus of central judicial power in Qing Dynasty takes into consideration of the social impact when the relevant cases do not undermine national stability and regime rule.Otherwise,heavier punishment tends to be imposed within the legal framework.By comparing the judicial practice of the two types of cases,it is found that the habitus of the participants in the judicial field actually affects the operation of the judicial field,and thus the boundary of the field is reconstructed.The fifth chapter is about the significance of the study of the central judicial power in the Qing Dynasty on the present.Based on the specific situation,the judicial skill as the most important capital and the habitus as the subjective tendency to rebuild the judicial power,the corresponding suggestions are put forward.The conclusion part returns to the thinking throughout the whole thesis writing process "how to carry out the research of Chinese legal history".The legal system and culture of ancient China should not be treated like the cultural relics displayed in museums.The significance of studying history always lies in the present,and the purpose and significance of studying Chinese legal history also lies in providing intellectual resources for the rule of law in China.