Chinese Traditional Legal Thought Impacting On Contemporary Justice

In some scholars'opinion, Chinese traditional law culture is defined as legal practice and its outcomes during thousands of years, which refers a legal culture with high stability and continuity from sangkan julge towards the end of the Qing Dynasty. From this definition, we can see that Chinese traditional law culture certainly have very rich contents. Chinese traditional legal thought is a component of Chinese traditional law culture, so it certainly has rich contents and a lot of excellent results, such as the law-abiding concepts of "all men are equal before the penalties", the human-based principle of "mutual concealment of offenses among the kin", the judicial humanitarian of "appropriate penalties", the judicial value orientation of "substantial justice", the political moral sense of "collectivism-based" and "in the interest of the citizens". In this paper, I selecte the main legal thought of Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism, Legalism the Spring and Autumn Period and Buddhism as the objects. Of course, some of them bring negative influence on the modern legal system building, but there are also some components which we should preserve and use for reference, because the useful effect in contemporary judicial practice has been found. As a point of view, from the definition of Chinese traditional legal thought to its realistic effectiveness, this dissertation selects some traditional law cultures which affect contemporary judicial system and judicial actual operation as the objects of discussion.This dissertation is divided into five parts. In the first part, I give a brief analysis on Chinese traditional legal thought. Chinese traditional legal thought is a concept with wide connotation and extension, so I can only select the most important aspects as the objects and I selecte the main legal thought of Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism, Legalism the Spring and Autumn Period and Buddhism as the objects. In the second part, I primarily state the realistic effectiveness of Chinese traditional legal thought. I point out the overall intent of this dissertation: the research for Chinese traditional legal thought is not limited to the historical material collation, but built on its important influence on the reality. In the third part is the center of this dissertation. I selects some traditional law cultures which deeply affect contemporary judicial system and judicial practice in order to discuss their negative and positive impacts from general aspect to specific aspect. Those traditional legal thought affected by Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism and Buddhism bring more profound influence on the status quo of contemporary justice. This is the focus of discussion because the whole traditional culture is based on Confucianism as the main body, combined with Legalism and Taoism as supplementary contents. These thoughts have main impacts on the thought of people, and it can be called hidden impacts. In the fourth part, I observe Dominant impacts on contemporary justice of traditional legal thought. It contains the mostimportant influence on the formal judicial system--Court Mediation System andReference value for the informal judicial system building--"Inquiry System" and"Postscript in the Judgment". These public opinions or systems are very important manifestations of Chinese traditional legal thought in the new era, so I give detailed analysis from the point to a plane so as to demonstrate the theme. The last part of the dissertation is the epilogue. Use a concise and comprehensive word to make a conclusion: "The legal issues from the outset, is obviously not only legal issues, but also cultural issues." Any law can not be created and run in excess of the cultural boundaries. The value of Chinese traditional legal thought need be treated for caution in order to avoid hasty generalization in the process of the modern legal system building.