Research On The "Juyanfensi" System In Song Dynasty

Song Dynasty is the era that legal construction made brilliant achievements. Onthe one hand, Song Dynasty inherited the excellent judicial tradition of Tang Dynasty.On the other hand, according to the unique social situation, it created many newsystems that adapted to the times and the need of ruling. Among these systems, thesystem of “Juyanfensi” is noticeable.Any system is the product of historical development, and has close relationshipwith social background. Song Dynasty was built at the chaotic background of the lastyears of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. This situation had deep influence on theearly rulers of Song Dynasty. On the one hand, the ruling class learned the lessonsfrom the situation of feudal warlordism, so they paid great attention to strengtheningthe centralization and rebuilding the ruling order. The rulers decentralized the powerof local force through the system design to strengthen the imperial power.Reinforcing the control of imperial power became the overall state policy of SongDynasty. Decentralizing judicial power was an important issue. Judicial power iscritical to people’s lives and property, the trend of popular sentiment and theprosperity of the state. So the rulers of Song Dynasty proposed the idea ofdecentralization and balance, a particular judicial tradition relating to decentralizationand balance had been shaped gradually in Song Dynasty. The concept which wasreflected in judicial proceedings was “Juyanfensi” system. The system decentralizedjudicial power through two separated departments, which was consistent with theoverall state policy of Song Dynasty. On the other hand, Five Dynasties and TenKingdoms was one of the darkest times in China’s legal history. Under thisbackground, the judicial system of Song Dynasty emphasized the separation ofpowers and supervision and established a relatively justified judicial procedure.“Juyanfensi” reflected the aspiration for justice at that time.In feudal society, the legal consciousness and judicial concept of the rulers had asignificant influence on legal construction, Song Dynasty is an obvious instance. InSong Dynasty, the rulers and scholar-officials paid more attention to the function of law in maintaining civil order. They had higher legal qualities. In the first place, therulers of the Song Dynasty paid much attention to law and advocated cautious use ofimprisonment and careful appointment of prison guards. This became a tradition sincethe early years of the Song Dynasty. In the second place, the scholar-officialsappeared a unique style that was different from other dynasties of China’s feudalsociety. They paid more attention to lawsuits and concerned the sufferings of thepublic. They were the main power in the political activities. Scholar-officials of SongDynasty would present themselves on courts and they showed a flexible and practicalattitude. They made efforts to assist the concerned parties and took up themaintenance of morality as their responsibility. They gave high regards to theprotection of the lawful rights of the disadvantaged groups. In Song Dynasty, thehumanistic spirit of scholar-officials had promoted the progress of the judicial system.Once more, Confucianism is the orthodoxy of the feudal society and it influenced theoverall process of legal construction. The principle of cautious punishment requiredthe rulers to educate citizens and be cautious on punishment. These ideas reflected in“Juyanfansi” system and became the ideological sources of the system.Simply speaking,“Juyanfensi” system established the judiciary of separatinginterrogation from conviction. The trial system consisted of two separated systems,“jusi” and “yansi”. The internal departments of trial organizations restrictedreciprocally through the establishment of the “Juyanfensi” system. The systememphasized the separation of powers and supervision and established a relativelyjustified judicial procedure and a restraint mechanism for the judges, which reflectedthe aspiration for justice at that time and prevented judicial tyranny effectively. Theprecise design of the system was a highly good display of values of judicial cultureand pursuit for judicial fairness and justice. It played an active role to find and correctwrong judgments and met the need of strengthening the centralization.The dissertation is mainly divided into four parts. The first part introduces thesystem design of “Juyanfensi”, discussing the division of function and relationship of“jusi” and “yansi”. The second part is the ideological foundation of the system,including the legal concept of the rulers, the humane spirit of the scholar-officials andthe principle of cautious punishment. The third part introduces the background when the system was designed. Study the system in the specific historical background andfind original intention of the system. The forth part discusses the operating effect ofthe system. In Song Dynasty, the wrong judgments in many cases were correctedthrough the operation of “Juyanfensi” system indeed. It was an important step for theprofessionalization of judicial activity and played a positive role in the developmentof proof system. The trial procedures became more intricate, this made judicial costmuch higher and judiciary efficiency to come down.The objects of study include historical records and cases. The establishment of“juyanfensi” and the gradually perfection of the relevant system were an importantreform of local judicial system in ancient China, and the system was one of thesignificant manifestations of relatively perfect judicial system in Song Dynasty.“Juyanfensi” is an important judicial system in Song Dynasty, we can understandjudicial system and concept of Song Dynasty deeply through studying the division offunction, ideological foundation, background and operating effect of the“Juyanfensi”.