Study On The Evidence System Of Collection Of Judging Lawsuits

Created in Song Dynasty,Collection of Judging Lawsuits is a case compilation reviewing concrete cases in ancient China,which is of vital importance to learn and research real legal practice and judicial system in ancient China,especially Song Dynasty.With the development of study on Chinesetraditional legal system,an increasing number of scholars begin to pay attention to legal systems and ideas contained in China's ancient judicial precedent;while only a handful of them study on Collection of Judging Lawsuits,among which,almost no one takes the evidence system as core research object.This paper based on the case analyses of Collection of Judging Lawsuits,combining theory with history,attempts to summarize the evidence system embodied in the Collection,in order to provide reference for the improvement of today's evidence system.This paper is composed of five parts:First part is the writing background of Collection of Judging Lawsuits,introducing the background when this book was created,discussing legal system construction of Song Dynasty,the promoting and blending of legal ideas among Song literati,the transformation of people's litigation ideas in Song society,leading to the author Zheng Ke and the direct writing background of Collection of Judging Lawsuits.Second part analyzes the types of evidence in Collection of Judging Lawsuits,discussing verbal evidence,material evidence,documentary evidence and examination record.Verbal evidence contains plaintiff statement,defendant confession and witness testimony;material evidence mainly introduces physical evidence is more effective than oral confession;documentary evidence tells the important documentary forms in Song Dynasty and the application of documentary evidence in legal practice;examination record explains the development of examination system in Song and the application of examination in legal practice.Third part elaborates the methods to take evidence in Collection of Judging Lawsuits,discussing collecting verbal evidence,material evidence,the conventional methods and testing activities of documentary evidence,and a theory presented by Zheng Ke-scouting with positive means and trickeries.Forth part clarifies "sentiment trace theory" in Collection of Judging Lawsuits,which refers to combing the consideration of common sense and reliance on evidences in legal practice."Sentiment trace theory" is the extension of evidence in the application process.Fifth part analyzes the evidence system of Collection of Judging Lawsuits on the basis of the above content,including complete variety of evidences,focusing on reference function between evidences,emphasis on application of objective evidence,stressing the values of compliance and specialty of taking evidence,pointing the unsystematic theory of evidence,lacking preciseness and rational basis when recognizing evidences.By summing up the evidence system,this paper expects to select the essence and abandon the dross.This paper is based on the evidence system of Collection of Judging Lawsuits,the specialties of which are reflected from the dialectical evaluation of various forms of evidence and means of collection of evidence,the evaluation of the role of suit mongers,the development of litigation,and the role of plaint store,and emphasis on the enhancement of the status of material evidence and making techniques to collect evidence,so on and so forth.Through the research,this paper aims to promote the rational recognition of the value of traditional legal culture,inherit the excellent legal cultural heritage,and learn the wisdom from ancients and the spirit of attending to cases.This is beneficialfor the legal practitioners to increase the trial experience,find a reasonable core in Chinese traditional law,make better use of the cases,and build and practice Chinese-characterized Socialist legal system.