The Ethical Judicature In Chosun Dynasty

The Chosun Dynasty lasting from1392to1910, was a significant compomnent of the international tributary system with the center of the Ming Dynasty in the East Asia. It coped with the Ming Dynasty following the principle of "Shida". The legal system of the Chosun Dynasty directly transplanted the Daminglv as its basic code. As a part of Chinese legal system, the law of the Chosun Dynasty was characterized with ethics. Guided by the policy of building a confucian state, the Chosun Dynasty implemented the Sangangwuchang in judicial activities. Qiuguanzhi,as a cellection of laws and cases, well reflected the condition of ethical judicature at that time.The crucial act to promote the ethical judiciary was to "Praise the Filial Piety, H onor the Paragons, Subject to the law and Explain the kindness". Under the social background of ethical law, law was guided by ethics. When they were in conflict, the ethics had priority over laws. In practice, the ethical judiciary was promoted by "Subject to the law and Explain the kindness",for example using the "Praise the Filial Piety, Honor the Paragons" to deal with relevant crimes.Confucianism rules the world by filial piety,which means that the judicial conduct should consider the filial piety between fathers and sons. For the retaliation actions, yisha, the Chosun Dynasty came up with the concept of pure revenge while it defined the revenge loosely, reduced punishment, and prasied the behavior. Confucianism advocates that virtues were reflected by chastity. In the Paragons cases,the nation chose to praise the chaste women and punished the opposite.Especially, the nations relieved the penalty of the criminal and the women who killed the criminals for the chastity.Behind the ethical judicature,there is a principle called'Ethic is More Important Than Life',which means values of life is inferior to values of social ethics. Therefor, there are conditions under which the nation abandoned victim's life and relieved the criminal's penalty because of the ethic.The ethical Judicature in the Chosun Dynasty had the basis of history and actuality.The Chosun Dynasty replaced the Koryo Dynasty in1392.The Koryo Dynasty absorbed the spirit of Tanglv into its codes.So the ethic is the tradition of the peninsula. Actually,the Chosun Dynasty developed the Confucianism to make it the state religion.They usually obeyed the Confucian rules strictly and went to the extremes.The ethic bridges the gap between the reality and the law. On the other hand, it also aggrieved the stability and authority of the law. We can learn from the attitude which the Chosun Dynasty traded the Chinese legal system to improve the course of building our modern legal mode. Also,the ethical judicature is a kind of native legal resource in east Asia, it is helpful to utilize it in our modern society.