| Li Yu, the famous scholars of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, compiled and published New Book of Reference for Governance volume 1 and 2 based on the official papers of the government officers of Kangxi period. This book is divided into 4 parts, and The Part about Court Verdict is the most significant part. This part records 788 verdicts which written by the officers, which can be considered a reflection of judicial activities at that time.Li Yu experienced a complicated life, as a gifted scholar in cultural history, he also made an achievement in jurisprudence. His legal thought mainly reflected in the judicial idea and concept of law enforcement. The special subject-matter and background of New Book of Reference for Governance made this book popular after it came. The Part about Court Verdict is a valuable material about the research of legal practice in Ming and Qing dynasties, considering its generality and covering.Analysis the feature about the genre and convincing explanation from the verdicts in The Part about Court Verdict, we can grasp the mode about the law of Ming and Qing dynasties in practice. Then research the theoretical value of law in The Part about Court Verdict, which includes the criminology theory, the tenology theory, the theory of criminalization. It can be analyzed by the aspect such as: crime subjective assumption,exclude the subject of crime, identify causality in criminal law, the purpose of punishment,the penalty function, etc.By probing the relationship between the law, the moral and the politics, the ancient social norms, it can be learned: the legal maintenance the moral, and the status of law in value evaluation system is less than moral's. This conclusion can be confirmed through 3examples: Judges didn't judge according to the law strictly; The negative moral evaluations in the verdicts; The clause named “Fan Zuo” wasn't be put into practice strictly. The law of Ming and Qing dynasties was a tool of political domination, because the district judge's jurisdiction was strictly limited, and the judicial supervision system was tight. So the law of Ming and Qing dynasties reflects the spirit of the rule of man.The exploration about ancient legal system and legal thought can't directly guide present justice practice, but the traditional legal culture has been affecting the law construction imperceptibly. We should face and value the history and the cultural conflict squarely firstly, then assimilate and reference traditional legal civilization according to its benefit. |
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