Analysis Of The Crime Of Misconduct In Office In The Tang Code

The operation of state machine depends on the performance of their duties of the governmental officials at various levels, and whether these officials can properly exercise their power and perform their duties and obligations or not more often concerns the citizens' fate and the rise and fall of a nation. The ancient Chinese rulers have come to realize such point and laid great importance to the supervision and administration of governmental officials and have used laws as a means of superintending the officials at various levels to properly perform their duties. Based on the brief introduction of the legal origin and development of the crime of misconduct in office of officials before the Tang Dynasty, the author analyses the relevant contents in the Tang Code and divides the crime of misconduct in office prescribed in the Tang Code into two types-general crime of misconduct in office and special one in accordance with the standard of generality and specificity, and elucidates various charges respectively and displays the variety and importance of the contents of the crime of misconduct in office and the heavy punishment in the Tang Code. Compared the crime of misconduct in office prescribed in the Tang Code with the relevant contents stipulated in the Criminal Code in effect, the author points out the defects in the current legislation and put forward some suggestions for perfecting the contemporary laws in respect of the crime of misconduct in office from the perspective s of subject of the crime, subjective requirements, category of the crime and establishment of the legally-prescribed punishment.