The Late Qing Dynasty Criminal Law Reform And The Historical Significance

The criminal law reform of late Qing Dynasty is an important part of Chinese modern legal modernization,as an important issues in the theoretical study of criminal law history, which opened the door to the modernization of Chinses criminal law system. The first part of this article shows the basic outline, the background of the reform of the Qing Dynasty criminal law,espasialy shows the historal ideaistic and sovran reasons by analysing the sources, development, changes and the basic characteristics of the Qing Dynasty criminal law,and the spesial social, economic,cutural situation and the poitical diplomatic depression.Then the article introduces the preparation and result of the criminal law reform,and analyses the guiding ideology of insisting on decency and the fundamental principle of making foreign things serve China, and on the base of the existing criminal law and the new criminal law of Qing Dynasty, the article also comprehensively discusses in derail the main contents and process of the reform.In the end of the article gives an integrative understanding and evaluation of the reform.As a whole the criminal reform of late Qing Dynasty is unsuccessful, because of the leaders, decision makers and executants who are limited on their special class, position and status, and of the special background and motivation of the reform ,the limitations and bias in the thoughts and contents of the reform are inevitable ,in the end the last objective result is a great regrit. But the reform of late Qing Dynasty leads to the change of Chinese traditional criminal law thoughts, the disintegration of Chinese traditional law ,and the foundation of Six Laws system of the bourgeoisie. From then on a series of advanced legal principles of the West bourgeoisie are established and have a great influence on later times, which is of active historical meaning, as the pioneers of the modernization of Chinese legal system. This can be an exemple of enlightenment and reference to the reform,development and perfectionof the criminal law system of the day.