The Study On Proof System In Song Dynasty

Song Dynasty is the periods that proof system made great development. Comparing with the last , politics. economy. society and science and so on in Song Dynasty all had obvious changes . Accordingly, proof system displayed its features of that age. Verbal confession, ever as the king of the proof, its proof position had dropped further in Song Dynasty. In many cases, verbal confession was never the indispensable proof when making judgement. People paid more and more attentions to other proofs such as witness, physical evidence, documentary evidence, inspection record ,etc. The rulers made specific stipulations for the collection of proofs, for example, limiting inquision by torture, prohibiting maltreating witnesses, especially showing great solicitude for inspecting system. Many judges in Song Dynasty began lives as literati and officialdom. On one hand, they were influenced for a long time by the Confucian idea, so they thought highly of human life.On the other hand, having taken part in imperial examinations, so they knew more about law and cases. As a result, they paid more attention to collect, distinguish and use proofs when they tried a case . Adopting flexible means, employing psychological knowledge If committing and what they did was given great praise by posterity. Their ideas of proof were reflected from their collected works and other monographs of law, among which, XI YUAN JI LU was the earliest work of legal medicine in the world, and was looked up to as immutable law by the officials of at that timeand later ages.