On Ancient Chinese Penalty System And Its Historical Evaluation

The generation and development of the pities punishment system has undergone a long history in our country, which has a profound theoretical foundation. The Pity Punishment system originated from the western Zhou dynasty, and institutionalized during the Spring and Autumn Period. It was gradually theorized in Han Dynasty and has further development. Until Tang dynasty, the pities punishment system is codificationed progressively, and then gets more development and improvement in the time of China’s feudal dynasty; following gradually become an important system of ancient China’s judicial trial. The judicial trial system is the mirror of the rule of law civilization. Only by analyzing carefully can we found that which contains rich philosophy, which as precious wealth for the construction of the modern rule of law civilization on its great research value and significance. In particular, the development of the system of interrogating prisoners in the later period represents rich idea of the pities punishment, more diverse forms, and lead to a more complete judicial system. Throughout its evolution can we found that the development and completement of the pities punishment system tend to a process of Confucianism, reflecting the thought of Confucian’s "benevolent governance" and "people-oriented", and then it has great historic significance to promote human being’s all-round development and the development of social productivity. Although the development of pities punishment system is accompanied by the feudal imperial power to maintain its ruling order and getting continuously strengthen, result in its historic and class limitation, we can still learn from the advantages. As it is said "must be known in the world disaster, no ancient not now", we study the ancient legal system, aiming to know better about today, make the past serve the present, and abandon its dregs, take its essence, we believe that it is bound to be shine in the modern society. Through the study on the pities punishment system, the purpose of this paper is to show its theoretical basis, main contents, historical significance and the way to evaluate the criminal justice system, in order to more concern and attention are given in our society today. In the process of promoting the rule of law civilization, we should absorb the pities punishment thought, to achieve the goal of improving the legal system of our country and promoting the construction of modern rule of law.