Rearch On The Penalty System Of Qing Dynasty

The 5,000-year Chinese civilization makes the colorful Chinese law system. In the long history of feudal law, the prudence penalty was shinning brilliantly as a legal system which has the important significance upon the Chinese law system. The emergence and development of prudence penalty have its profound background factors in China. It started from the Western Zhou Dynasty and was institutionalized at Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. From then on, the subsequent feudal dynasties had been gradually improving and perfecting it, making it one of the important systems in the law system of ancient China. The developmental process of prudence penalty system is the process of continuously being Confucianized, blending the "doctrine of benevolence" in Confucianism into the legal system. Qing Dynasty is the last feudal dynasty in ancient China, and its improving of legal system had reached the peak of feudal times in China, meanwhile, in terms of prudence penalty system, Qing Dynasty absorbed the rules and regulation related to the prudence penalty from the past generations, and developed a set of prudence penalty system, combining the legislation, judicature and enforcement of the law, which reflected the humanitarian spirits and the benevolence and pities held by the rulers towards the common people. This paper aimed at demonstrating the theoretical basics, main contents and historical significance as well as how to evaluate it by analyzing and researching the prudence penalty system in Qing Dynasty. Learning from the past can benefit our present actions. In promoting the modernization process of rule of law, the humanistic ideas contained in the prudent penalty in Qing Dynasty should be absorbed so as to perfect Chinese law system and boost the construction of modern society governed by the law.