The Study On Larceny In Tang Dynasty

Larceny is not only one of the most ancient crimes in legal history,but also oneof the most important crimes for ancient rulers in China,all the rulers punish theoffender in the most severe measures.The object of the crime is property,it damagesthe material interests of the rulers, moreover it destroys the social order,so theLarceny is of great importance in the code.One example may put it clear is that thethief law was the first chapter in FaJing which is the earliest written code inChina.The main provisions of the crime were in the thief law,ShuYi mentioned thatthe thief law was formulated in the FaJing which made by Li Kui in the WarringStates Period. From the Qin and Han Dynasties to Wei Dynasty,it was always calledthief law and robber law. They were combined to the thief law in The Northern QiDynasty.It was changed to rob and thief law in Zhou Dynasty.In Sui Dynasty,it wascombined to the thief law,and remained the same ever since.This confirms that thethief law originated from the FaJing,and inherited by the Qin and Han Dynasties’sregulations.It was determined in Sui Dynasty after the evolution of Northern Qi andNorthern Zhou,and the Tang Dynasty is still in use of it without change.Among thetwelve Chapters of the Tang codes,the law on thief is in the seventh chapter.The firstsix articles are legal provisions on state affairs,except for the patients articles.Whileafter the thief article,the articles are the substantive criminal law about thecivil,procedure law and miscellaneous law.So it is clear that thief law takes up animportant position in the substantive criminal law,and it also clarifies the legislativepurpose that the thief law is the key for rulers.The Tang law made a clear definition of larceny for the first time,in theShuYi,the larceny is that someone steals others’ things in a stealthy way and ownsthem.The Punishment for the thief is based on the number of stolen goods,the thiefwho don’t get the stolen goods would be executed with fifty gantlets,the thief who geta foot of spoils would be executed with sixty bludgeon,and increase a degree ofpunishment if he get a bolt of stolen goods,five bolts of stolen goods would be executed with one year,and increase a degree of punishment when the stolen goodsreach five bolts,and fifty bolts of stole goods would be punished life exile with addedlabor.Except for the ordinary larceny,there are some special larceny.Compared withgeneral larceny,the special larceny is unusual in objects and criminal rules.Theobjects of this kind of theft includes the priest items, crown jewels,officialsignet,key,banned weapons,the statue of Buddha,burial mound,grass and trees in theimperial garden and governmental horse and cattle.Because of these special larcenybelong to the crimes that regardless number of stolen goods,namely the specialprovisions were to protect the special goods and to increase the punishment,so theestablishment of these special larceny does not depend on whether the criminals getstolen goods,and the punishment is not suitable for the principle of relying on thenumber of stolen goods.There were provisions in the law that if the punishment ofspecial larceny is lighter than ordinary larceny,the punishment would be increased adegree based on the ordinary larceny.It shows that the stern attitude to the speciallarceny in Tang Dynasty.In addition,there is also a special category of larceny,theyneed to according to and in the light of larceny.These provision not only have reducedthe repeating words in the legislation, made the laws refined and simple, solved thecumbersome to another penalty legislation flaws,but also emphasized the importantposition of typical accusation in the law.Tang law also provides for the provision ofcommon crime,we can see that the Tang Dynasty lawmakers have already had anunderstanding of the complexity of common crime and analyzed the specificcircumstances of the practice accurately.To sum up,although there are some ethics,the relevant provisions about the crimein Tang dynasty are comparatively more complete, and the legal basis are morereasonable, its legislative spirit and legislative technology is worthy of praise.TheTang laws were followed by the Ming and Qing Dynasty,and the reference value oftang laws for modern legislative and the practical application is obvious.