On The System Of Relative Concealment

The system of concealment of relatives has a history of more than 2,000 years in China and has a strong humanistic and social structural basis.As a traditional legal culture,it still has profound contemporary values: it is in line with people’s inner identity and is a generally accepted ethical and moral concept,and its inclusion in criminal law is conducive to the integration of morality and law and the realization of good law and good governance;it is based on human nature and reflects the gentle side of the law,and it is understood that requiring people to "extinguish their relatives in a righteous manner ".It is clear that the act of concealing relatives is not harmful to the society,and the criminal law is launched to regulate it,which will cost a high price but not the expected effect,and the decriminalization of concealing relatives is in line with the spirit of modesty of criminal law.From the legal recognition of relatives to conceal the legitimate and legal behavior,is conducive to reducing the cost of litigation,improve the efficiency of litigation,reflects the law compassionate kinship,maintain social order,conducive to the protection of human rights,the realization of fairness and justice.However,at the time of the founding of New China,we completely rejected and discarded the system of mutual concealment of relatives in criminal legislation,until 2012 when the Criminal Procedure Law was revised,taking into account the need to maintain family ties,"immunity from court appearance" was established,which was regarded as the state’s attention and response to ethical affection and represented the return of the system of mutual concealment of relatives.However,further analysis reveals that this right seems to exempt close relatives from the obligation to testify,but in essence it is limited to allowing them to testify without having to appear in court and to be questioned by the judicial authorities at other stages of the proceedings,which is very different from the true meaning of the "right of relatives to refuse to testify".The absence of the kinship concealment system in China’s legal system is,on the one hand,an excessive criticism of the old legal system,and on the other hand,influenced by the traditional concepts of "sacrificing the small for the sake of the large" and "emphasizing substance over procedure",which to a certain extent belittle the importance of kinship to human society.If we look at the legislation of foreign countries,most of them recognize the legitimacy of kinship secrecy and make relatively specific and clear provisions for this system,and establish a system of kinship secrecy in accordance with their respective institutions in both substantive and procedural laws.The legislative recognition of mutual concealment among relatives is not a crime,which reflects the law’s care for family and kinship and respect for humanity and human rights.Therefore,it is important to objectively evaluate the kinship concealment system,study its historical evolution and content,consider its specific provisions in foreign countries,fully explore and recognize its contemporary value,understand the rationality of its existence for thousands of years,base on the understanding of human nature and kinship,and in the spirit of human-centered legislation,remove the weeds and preserve the essence,and reconstruct the kinship concealment system in line with China’s current situation.This is not only the protection of kinship and human nature,but also to promote the progress of the rule of law in China.