Study Of Song Case

The “li” was one of the Chinese ancient legal forms, which occupied an importantposition in the Chinese ancient legal system, and played an extremely important role.The Song dynasty was the key stage of the development of the li, not only did the liof the Song dynasty continue the historical trend that the evolution、the formationand the development of the li from the Qin and Han dynasties、Wei and Jin dynastiesto Sui and Tang dynasties, but also opened the new period that the furtherimprovement and the prosperity of the li in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The li ofthe Song dynasty was a connecting link between the preceding and the following,and also continued with the past and opened up the future.The li of the Song dynasty include the judicial li and the administrative li, theformer part mainly means the“duanli”, while the latter part consist of the“tiaoli”、“geli”、“zeli”、“shili” and so on. The duanli of the Song dynasty was compiledand edited on the basis of law cases, as the necessary supplement and the beneficialvariation of the statute law, the duanli played an irreplaceable role in the judicialjudgment of the Song dynasty. The administrative li of the Song dynasty had complexcontents and diverse levels, which contained every aspect of the administrativeaffairs and existed both in the written and unwritten forms. The tiaoli、geli、zeli andshili had considerable values as well as lots of ills, each with their own characteristics.The li of the Song dynasty also played an important role in the conversion processthat from the system of statutes and decrees to the system of statutes and cases. Theli before the Song dynasty was unimportant and covered by the shine of the systemof statutes and decrees; however, after the critical development in the Song dynasty,the application of li became active. What’s more, it shined brilliantly in the end,which parallelled with the statutes and turned into the basic legal form in the Mingand Qing dynasties. The research and the analysis for the li are the important parts tounderstand the Chinese ancient legal forms roundly and correctly, and they are alsoimportant to understand the traditional legal system and culture. Especially for thediscussion on the li of the Song dynasty, that is particularly important in such research and analysis.