| Ancient Chinese judicial system represents an important part of ancient Chinese legal system. This paper intends to delineate the evolution of the judicial systems in ancient China by sorting out and analyzing certain basic historical materials as well as by drawing on a body of relevant literature. Upon that basis, the paper then further identifies the characteristics that mark the ancient judicial system. The paper consists of four parts. The first part, which briefly introduces the basic definition of a judicial system and provides an overview of such a system in ancient China, sets out the purpose of the present paper.In Part two, the author discusses the development and evolution of the judicial system in ancient China by dividing it into three periods. The first period during which the judicial system gradually emerged was in the pre-Qin Dynasty period. From the Yellow Lord (Huang Di) down on to the kings of Yao, Shun and Yu, then to the Dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou, the judicial system was gradually separated from a system that was executive, military and judicial administration rolled into one, and became fully fledged in the Zhou Dynasty. It became the prototype for the latter dynasties. The second period, which referred to the time from the Qin Dynasty through the dynasties of Han, Sui, and Tang, saw the increasing maturity of the judicial system. In this period, the judicial system was bolstered by the legalism of the Qin Dynasty and influenced by Confucianism in the Han Dynasty; it then the survived the turmoil in the period of disunion (220-589 AD, often known in Chinese as the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties), and finally became well established in the Sui and Tang dynasties with the establishment of a centralized political structure. The system was gradually perfected in the third period, a time from Song Dynasty through the dynasties of Yuan and Ming down to the Qing Dynasty. These feudal dynasties basically followed the judicial system passed on to them by the Tang Dynasty and made changes where necessary. The system was further improved and the procedures governing litigation and trials were increasing being perfected. And the second part of also provides a brief summary of why and how the ancient judicial system eventually came to an end. In a word, the second part delineates the general contour of the evolution of the judicial system in ancient China, highlights the changes in the different dynasties and summarizes up the innovations that were made in the different dynasties.Part III identifies the characteristics that marked the judicial system in a comparative light. These characteristics include: (1) supremacy of the royal power and a high degree of centralization; (2) the subordination of judicial powers to the executive powers with no clear distinction between the two; (3) privileges accorded to the ruling class and outright political inequality; (4) no differentiation between civil and criminal laws where the latter was privileged over the former; (5) inquisition by torture and confession-based rather than evidence-based sentences; (6) the intermarriage between social custom and legal codes guided by Confucian ideas; (7) strict and impartial allocation of judicial responsibilities and an emphasis on the reward and punishment of officials; (8) reliance on a system where the emperor appointed various officials and an emphasis on judicial oversight; (9) preference for grass-roots mediation without litigation. These features both reflect the class nature of the political system in ancient China and represent the gradual enrichment of China's judicial experience. To sum up, this part analyzes the reasons that gave rise to the development of these characteristics (including the social backdrop), examines the effect they had in Chinese history, both positive and negative.The fourth part of the paper draws three generalized conclusions. First, as an essential part of the political superstructure, the judicial system has had a vital bearing... |
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