Studying Of The Board Of Punishment's System During The Five Dynasties To The Earily Northern Song Dynasty

From the Five Dynasties to the early Northern Song Dynasty,both the organizational system and the manning quotas of the Board of Punishments had changed. As one of the Six Departments, the organization, as well as the functions and the status of the Board of Punishments were badly impaired through the hundred years of change from the later Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties.The functions of the Duguan,Bimen and Bibu almost lost.These three organizations existed in name only.The Board of Punishments, by the rule of Tangliudian,was nonexistent. In 991,it was displaced by a new organization.The Minister of Justice(Xingbu Shangshu)became a name of Jiluguan while his assistant took over his position and became the senior officer.With the development of the system of Guan,Zhi,Chaiqian,there was a tendency that the assistant minister became Jieguan in the Five Dynasties. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, they became Jiluguan officially.Some other ranked official displaced the assistant minister and became the new senior officer.In the mean time,the lower-income masses of the Board of Punishments also changed a lot.The Langguan became Jiluguan from the Five Dynasties to the early Northern Song Dynasty.Those who were responsible for the specific tasks were Xiangfuguan and Jianfaguan whom selected by Jingchaoguan,as well as the Fazhiguan whom selected by some Xuanren.The functions of the Board of Punishments were greatly weaked from the Five Dynasties to the early Northern Song Dynasty.Its basic function,such as interrogation the capital punishment,participation legislation,interrogation case, judicial supervision and cooperate with other human resource departments,were regain and retain.These existing functions were not accomplished in an action but after a long process.Nevertheless, they were quite different from that in Tang Dynasty. During this period,the government strengthened the deserved functions of the Board of Punishments.As a result, the Board of Punishments worked well to a certain extent in judiciary and supervision.However,as its status dropped greatly and restricted by various conditions,the role of the Board of Punishments was quite limited.