Analysis Of The Traditional Chinese Judgment Reasoning From Qingming Cases Adjudicated By Famous Judges

The history of our country's judgment reasoning could go back to ancient times.Qingming Cases Adjudicated by Famous Judges(Hereinafter referred to as Qingming Cases)served as a link between past and future,which not only took in the experience accumulated by the outstanding referees,but also showed its own style of innovation and reform.It shaped the traditional Chinese referee style and was inherited by Ming and Qing dynasties.Therefore,based on Qingming Cases,it is a very ideal way for us to analyze the traditional Chinese referee reasoning.Its birth period—Southern Song Dynasty,was a critical period during which China's traditional legal thoughts and legislation were finalized in the Tang Dynasty and went to its maturity.It not only gave birth the Neo-Confucianism,but also created a more complete legal system than Tang Dynasty's.At the same time,the technology of the judiciary of the Southern Song Dynasty climbed to the peak of ancient China with the production of two monographs of Zhe Yu Gui Jian and Xi Yuan Ji Lu.All these further enhanced the feasibility of Qingming Cases representing China's traditional judgments.In ancient China,it was not accidental that the judgment reasoning was good at reasoning things out.This was not only stimulated by the system of selecting people such as the imperial examinations,but also the ideal of no-litigation in the ancient Chinese judicial system.It was also the practical need for the judge to withdraw a lawsuit.Stimulated by the imperial examinations,the traditional judgment reasoning of our country made rapid progress in Tang Dynasty.No-litigation,as the ideal of ancient Chinese judiciary,had more influence on the judgment reasoning in the long run.It is a product of the ancient Chinese agricultural economy.With the economic development of the Southern Song Dynasty,the rise of the lawsuit almost destroyed the ideal of No-litigation.The judges of the Southern Song Dynasty re-established the new goal of “withdraw a lawsuit” in order to respond to the real problems of “litigiousness”under the “no-litigation” mentality.And the way to achieve the new goal was the judgment reasoning.Therefore,there was a collection of judgments that were rich in reasoning in the Southern Song Dynasty.As the economy continued to develop,the "litigiousness" still existed certainly in the Ming and Qing dynasties,and the fine tradition of judgment reasoning has also been continuously promoted.Qingming Cases judgment reasoning contained a wealth of methods.Ancient Chinese judges were already familiar with the audiences to persuade before the reasoning.Three typesof audiences of New rhetoric has been reflected in the judgment reasoning of Qingming Cases.They would make efficient arguments based on the different types of listeners.The combined use of "emotion,natural justice and law" was an important way for the traditional Chinese judgment reasoning."Emotions,natural justice and the law" merging together not only convinced the parties involving in the case,but also the current readers.Ancient Chinese logic also contributed to the traditional Chinese judgment reasoning.The ancient Chinese logic such as "inference","xiao(i.e.a mode of speech or a principle of speech)," "analogy","zhi(rebuttal argument)","lianzhu style" and " Hetuvidy?" were all used in the judgments of Qingming Cases.Traditional Chinese judgment reasoning had many meanings for reference to the reformation of the present judgment instruments in our country.Drawing lessons from the traditional Chinese judgment reasoning,our law education urgently needs to add more methods of adjudication to support the judge reasoning.Meanwhile,we must attach the importance to the judgment of judges in the examination of judges and set up relevant rewards and punishments so as to increase the motivation for the judge's reasoning.For judges,they must also establish a sense of reasoning,fully understanding the audience of the referees,enhancing the pertinence of the reasoning,taking the initiative to inherit the fine tradition of reasoning in ancient China,and actively performing their duty.