On Wu Tingfang And Legal System Reform In Late Qing China

Wu tingfang (1842—1922), the first law doctor in china , was a famous legalsystem reformer in modern history . He began to participate in the internal anddiplomatic affairs as Li Hongzhang's aides and staff since 1882.During the period ofnew reform in Late Qing, he served as the minister responsible for the lawrevising .After Wuchang revolt ,he participated in the establishment of the Republicof China and took the post of the attorney general of Nanjing ProvisionalGovernment. Later, he served as the foreign minister of Beijing Government andheld the premier of the state council concurrently for a time. Being indignant atzhang Xun's restoration ,Wu Tingfang resigned to assist Sun Zhongshan in theMilitary Government in Guangzhou ,presiding over the diplomatic and financialaffairs .Failing in the Boxers Uprising and ashamedly concluding "the treaty in1901",Qing Government determined on reforming old orders comprehensively toextricate themselves from the predicament In the ensuing years, many newpolicies were issued ,among which law revising was prominent. Wu Tingfang ,serving as the law minister at that time ,introduced a lot of modern western legalthought and practice in the whole law revising task. In respect of revising the oldlaws, it is as follows "change heavy penalty into minor", "rid the cruel torture"," leave out inquisition by torture" , "take public testimony seriously ",etc .Inrespect of setting up the new laws ,it is as follows, "make the procedural law","reform the old law structure which combined various laws", "compile thetrader's law in Qing Dynasty to offer the legal guarantee for capitalist development","base the law revising on the continent law" etc. In addition to these , Wu Tingfangran the law school to train the law talents.In brief, Wu Tingfang , who carried on overall revision and innovation tochina's traditional legal system, changed the inherent defect and deficiency ofChinese law department , declared the termination of traditional legal system in asense and promoted the Chinese law department into modern times. He wasindeed the forerunner of Chinese modern legal system.