| The Qing Dynasty as the imperial period of the master,the system tends to improve.Through the intervention of the public power of the state,the judicial system to solve the disputes among the people has also been developed.County level is the Qing Dynasty grass-roots political power,direct contact with the people,the county yamen is directly to deal with the people’s disputes of the judicial organs.Through the research on the judicial system and actual operation of prefectural and county in the Qing Dynasty,it is found that although the traditional society advocated "mediation and settlement of disputes",according to a large number of historical records,the number of litigation in the Qing Dynasty increased significantly,which to some extent reflects the Qing people’s awareness of resolving disputes through judicial means,which cannot be separated from the efforts of the Qing Dynasty legal personnel.The petty officials who were always active in the bottom of the feudal bureaucracy were a group of legal people who could not be ignored.They are numerous,are the actual operators of state and county judicial affairs,and play an important role in the process of maintaining the operation of state and county judicial affairs.Petty officials are indispensable in state and county judicature.On the one hand,the functions of petty officials in the judiciary run through the whole judicial process.From the preparatory work before the trial to the trial,and after the trial of the documents and archives work,are inseparable from the division of labor and cooperation of petty officials.First of all,the petty officials needed to complete the record and issue of the case,to present and accept the case,to examine the murder case,to survey the land,to arrest the court,etc.Secondly,when the case is tried,the petty officials are very important to arrange and assist the trial.Finally,after the trial of the case,the petty officer needed to complete the arrangement and storage of the documents and archives,and had the responsibility of prison management.On the other hand,in the judicial process,the petty officials played a bridge between the people and the officials.To some extent,they aroused the people’s judicial awareness,spread limited judicial knowledge.However,petty officials is usually a kind of "crafty officials" image,status is also very humble.On the one hand,the petty officials did have a lot of frauds in the state and county judicature.Aiming at these abuses,the rulers and local gentry adopted a series of management measures in the hope of effectively eliminating the accumulated abuses.On the other hand,the historical records are mostly recorded by the gentry class,who are naturally opposed to the rank and file of the petty officials.The position of petty officials in state and county judicature is very special.Although they had "weight",they were "inferior".Although they were insignificant,the rulers were afraid that the rank of the petty officials would endanger the empire,and they made a series of strict rules to restrict them.The relationship between the petty officials and the county officials is also very delicate,the county officials cannot leave the petty officials,the county judicial affairs need the petty officials in the side assistance,even the petty officials play a decisive role,but the true attitude of the county officials to the petty officials is full of distrust and contempt.The group of petty officials played an important role in the operation,dissemination and development of the county judicature in Qing Dynasty.It is true that the group of petty officials brought a lot of judicial malpractice,but we should not turn a blind eye to the contribution of petty officials because of these malpractice.This paper,by sorting out the functions of the petty officials in each stage of the judicial process,makes an in-depth analysis of the institutional reasons behind the petty officials’ malpractice and the reasons for their management failure,in order to make an objective evaluation of the petty officials as a special subject. |
