A Comparative Study Of Tibetan "Lost Value" And Germanic "Atonement" System

The Tibetan system of “Cost of Life” is a rare written customary law system inChinese minority nationalities. In629AD, in the fierce conflicts between Buddhismand Bon, the first king of Tubo Dynasty, Songtsen Gampo and his successors, takinglife transmigration, retributive justice and other Buddhist sutras as well as “Ten GoodMethod” as the blueprint, established the first statute law of “Compensation forHunting Injury” related to the “Cost of Life” system in Tibetan area. In addition toTibetan people, other minority nationalities in our country also have similar systems,such as Yi nationality, Jingpo nationality, Mongolia nationality. They also have asystem of “Fine for Funeral Expenses” which is similar to the “Cost of Life” system.According to the related law, the study of anthropologists and archaeologistsdiscovered that “Cost of Life” system not only exists in the minority regions in China,but also in many nations of the world.“The price of life”, called by the ancientAnglo-Saxons, is a foreign expression of “Cost of Life”; but in the west, it is oftencalled as the “atonement money”, which is earlier compared to “Cost of Life” system.In the beginning of the1st century AD, the Germanic people began to form analliance when “atonement money” customary law sprout; until the4th century, withthe collapse of Roman Empire, the Germanic people established Germanic kingdomson the ruins of Roman Empire, and lots of concepts of “atonement money” systememerged in the codes of many kingdoms.Tibetan “Cost of Life” system and the “atonement money” system of Germanicpeople are the mechanisms used in a certain period of time to solve the disputes.Despite the long historic term, they did the same atonement custom of “Fine insteadof criminal punishment”, the reason of which has a research value.This thesis has three parts with over30,000words. The first part is an overviewtaking the customary law as the breakthrough point, including the origin anddefinition of the two systems. The second part is the comparison from the aspects ofcultural background, origin, social effect and specific system, revealing their similarities and differences. The third part is the value analysis by combining thecommon characteristics of the two systems.