A Study On The Pardon Of Calamities In Han Dynasty

This thesis focuses on the emergence,development and influence of the pardon of calamities in the Han Dynasty,and the type of this pardon will be involved in this paper too.The two elements of pardon of calamities,the pardon system and the calamity concept both developed before the Qin Dynasty.During the Han dynasty,the judicial pardon translated to a political measure,besides,the traditional calamity concept integrated successfully with the the Confucianists so that a new disaster warning theory was invented by the scholars such as Dong Zhongshu.The pardon of calamities emerged at this historic moment and the first case of this pardon came into force in the period of Emperor Xuan of Han.At the same time,its emergence was both accidental and inevitable,which was not only driven by the complicated and changeable political situation during the period of Emperor Zhao and Xuan of Han,but also in line with the historical trend of light punishment in the Han Dynasty.In the Han Dynasty,the development of the pardon of calamities had undergone changes,roughly extending from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty.The pardon of calamities in the Western Han Dynasty was relatively frequent and almost all of its execution methods were amnesty.However,its began to decline in the Eastern Han Dynasty,not only the frequency of pardon but also the details of it.The development of the disaster warning theory,the Rulers attached importance to disaster elimination and pardon were guaranteed to this institution's long-term existence.Nevertheless,excessive growth of pardon system curbed the the pardon of calamities eventually.Interrogation and impeachment replaced the pardon when the calamities happened.After the Han Dynasty,the pardon of calamities kept its existence and developed in later generations.Without doubt it was influenced by the Han Dynasty in different ways.Although the Dong zhongshu's disaster warning theory and the pardon of calamities have been criticized or called into question,the value of them Should not be ignored.