A Study On The Legal System Of Chinese Businessmen Going Overseas After The Longqing Period In The Ming Dynasty

The legal system of prohibiting and restricting Chinese going to sea almost existed throughout the Ming Dynasty.Since Hongwu four years ago,the behavior of Chinese going to sea has become illegal,even in the late Ming Dynasty,Longqing Kaihai was helpless in the Ming Dynasty.The legal system of prohibiting and restricting Chinese trade to sea was a compromise between Ming Dynasty government to safeguard national security and regime rule at the expense of economic development and the vital interests of the people.The legal system of prohibiting and restricting Chinese going to sea had its positive side to the national security and the political stability of the Ming Dynasty in the early Ming Dynasty,but the legal system at the expense of economic development and the interests of the people was not a wise move of the Ming Dynasty.In many cases,the economy can act on politics,and Chinese trade can not only meet the needs of the people in pursuit of wealth and a happy life,but also increase national taxes,promote the development of agriculture and handicrafts,and enhance the comprehensive strength of the country.Unfortunately,the rulers of the Ming Dynasty ignored this.From the point of view of the formulation of the law,the rulers of the Ming Dynasty,as lawmakers,would consider at least four factors in the formulation and revision of the law: national security,political stability,economic development and people's livelihood.First of all,these four factors are related to each other,any factor can have a decisive impact on several other factors;secondly,the influence of these four factors on the rulers of the Ming Dynasty is different,according to the degree of influence can be divided into: regime stability,national security,economic development and people's livelihood.The legal system of prohibiting and restricting Chinese trade to sea is the embodiment of Ming Dynasty rulers safeguarding political stability and national security at the expense of economic development and people's livelihood.From the point of view of the implementation of the law,whether a national legal system can be effectively implemented often depends on whether the various departments of the central government are coordinated and consistent,whether the local government,the law enforcement officials and the central government are coordinated,and whether the subject of the legal norms accepts and approves the legal system.Obviously,the legal system of prohibiting and restricting Chinese going to sea is contrary to the vital interests of the people on the southeast coast,that is,the main body of the legal system,and at the same time,it is also contrary to the vital interests of the local governments and officials along the southeast coast.On the other hand,the law's expression often has a gap with its practice,and the legal system which is contrary to the vital interests of the people is more difficult to implement.From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty to the Emperor of the Jiajing,the legal system for prohibiting the Chinese to go to the sea has been emphasized by the Law of the Great Ming Dynasty,the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China and the Royal Decree of the Emperor,but the Chinese sea trade has always existed,and the businessmen in the southeast coast have been carrying out the sea trade through various forms,Some of the officials also found their lucrative and active participation in which,by the late Ming Dynasty,the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty and even many of the group,some of the group's power could even compete with the Ming government.This fully shows that the Chinese sea trade is in accordance with the actual interests of the people,and the legal system that ignores the vital interests of the people is hard to implement for a long time.The main reason why the supreme rulers of Ming Dynasty stressed the prohibition and restriction of Chinese trade to sea was to maintain national security and political stability.Objectively speaking,the legal system of prohibiting and restricting the trade of Chinese going to sea is a way to solve the problem,and even played its due role in the early Ming Dynasty.However,it should not be carried out all the time,because the trade of Chinese going to sea is not only related to national security and political stability,but also related to economic development and people's livelihood.As the supreme ruler,the tax revenue of the local government and the real interests of the people should be paid attention to.Of course,national security and political stability are conducive to economic development and people's livelihood,but if the economy is depressed and the people are bored,it will cause disaster and create new problems of national security and regime stability.To solve the problem of instability in coastal areas,we should not only prohibit Chinese from going to sea.How to better balance the relationship between national security,regime stability and economic development,people's livelihood is a problem that the supreme ruler should think about.It is possible to sacrifice the latter for a short period of time to maintain the former,but in the long run it may give up everything and breed bigger problems.