Study On The Mediation System Of The Qing Dynasty

Today, faced with the complicated social reality, how to resolve disputes between different interest groups should be one of the important issues under the concept of a harmonious society. Mediation system roots in Chinese tradition for thousands of years, it plays an important role in the resolution of dispute, and it is called as "the Oriental experience" by western scholars. Qing Dynasty is a special era. It is not only the end of feudal system, but also the peak of Chinese legal system. That's why the thesis chooses it to study the traditional mediation system. Based on the historical data especially some civil cases of Qing Dynasty, with concrete analysis of these concrete cases, this thesis discusses the types and features of the mediation system of the Qing Dynasty, and then makes an objective evaluation and reflection, meanwhile, provides some useful elements for the revolution of today's social disputes.This thesis has four parts in addition to introduction and conclusion.Introduction is mainly focused on the present study situation of the mediation system in Qing Dynasty, the meaning,purpose and study method.The first part traces the traditional mediation system to its roots. From western Zhou Dynasty who has the earliest record with "mediator", to the Qing Dynasty, mediation system exists in different forms and played an important role in the resolution of dispute.The second part describes the types and features of the mediation system in the Qing Dynasty. There is no unified understanding about the type of mediation system, and this thesis classifies its type according to both the different third-party and the situation of their joining into the resolution of dispute. It also makes a general grasp about the mediation system in the Qing Dynasty by analyzing respectively concrete civil cases about informal mediation,official mediation and the semi-official nature of mediation.The third part concludes analysis on why mediation system of Qing Dynasty can exist. First, small-scale peasant economy plays a decisive role. Such an economy form not only determines culture pattern and tradition in Chinese traditional society, but also determines that Chinese society has obvious character of native society which can be called acquaintance society. This social foundation caters to moralization of which feudalistic sovereign uses to confine people's mind in ideologies that are advocated by Confucianism, Second, traditional Confucianism has directive effect. Combining with binding of Patriarchal system, Confucian ethics emphasize on family,order,identity and obligation so as to cause idea of "no dispute" filtering into people's minds. Finally, political power system and legal system have restrictive action. Royal autocracy which is more and more extreme causes the imbalance of the political system. All of these defects lead official judicial resource to insufficient directly. In addition, restriction on legal system can't be neglected. There are a lot of restrictions on the right of appeal in the legal system, such as restrictions on acceptance time, due to which both parties expect to resolve dispute by mediation as quickly as possible.The fourth part includes the evaluation about the mediation system of Qing Dynasty and the reflection. Based on the previous analysis, we can find both the advantages and disadvantages of the mediation system in Qing Dynasty, and get several inspirations. Besides, this thesis also elaborates the important role of mediation in contemporary society by combining with the present situation of Henan Province.Conclusion is a summary of the whole text.