A Historical Investigation On The Legislation Of Opium Crime In The Late Qing Dynasty

In 1906,the Qing government launched a massive campaign against opium.After ten years,the movement had made remarkable achievements in banning opium:the domestic opium problem had been relieved,and it had been determined in the form of law that Britain can no longer export opium to China.This thesis takes the crime of opium in the late Qing Dynasty as the starting point to clarify the legislative process from omission to comprehensive.On this basis,this thesis further investigates the collision between the concept of Chinese traditional laws and regulations and ethics and the thought of western modern criminal law under the background of the New Deal Reform in the late Qing Dynasty and the Constitutional Preparation.The Anti-Opium Movement in the late Qing Dynasty began with the domestic and international background of the growing strength of Anti-Opium.By the beginning of the 20th century,the domestic mainstream public opinion was in favor of Anti-Opium.China has sufficient moral capital on the issue of Anti-Opium.However,at that time,the existing domestic opium ban order,that is,the old rules of Tongzhi,could not meet the needs for the opium ban at all.Therefore,China carried out opium crime legislation for as long as five years.In 1906,the Anti-Opium Regulation of the Zhengwu Chu(Government Affairs Office)set the general tone for the Anti-Opium Movement and opened the prelude to the full criminalization of opium since the New Deal Reform in the late Qing Dynasty.The draft of the New Criminal Law of the Qing Dynasty in 1907 is the first relatively complete law to prohibit opium since Tongzhi.It is deeply influenced by the Japanese Criminal Code and stipulated the criminalization of opium in terms of prohibition,sale,smoking,opening of opium den and embargoing.Although the 1907 draft was opposed by different people and failed to be promulgated in time,it set the basic framework of the crime of opium.The crime of opium changed slightly in the late Qing Dynasty after 1907 draft.The Anti-Opium Law of 1910 and the New Criminal Law of the Qing Dynasty of 1911 formally criminalize opium in the form of law.The collision of old and new ideas and the competition for legislative power run through the compilation and revision of the two laws.Although all people supported the prohibition of opium in the late Qing Dynasty,the collision of new and old thoughts still affected the formulation of the crime of opium.The addition of a provision in the Anti-Opium Law aimed at safeguarding the dignity of emperor shows the legislator’s compromise under the dispute of ethics and law.The Zizheng Yuan(Central Advisory Council)and the Xianzheng Biancha Guan(Constitutional Investigation Hall)were entangled in the issue of legislative power,which once faced the crisis of preservation and abolition of the Anti-Opium Law.Although the public,provincial governors and various ministries and courts had asked for heavier punishment for the crime of opium,the Hall for Drafting of Law remained the same,insisting that as long as it is strictly implemented,it can ban opium effectively without heavier punishment.Under the background that the national police system was not yet complete and opium crimes were very common,the differences between the governor and the revision law office on the sentencing severity of opium crime are essentially the differences between legislation and administrative law enforcement.The law revision center was worried that imposing heavy sentences on the general opium crime section will lead to an increase in the harmfulness of opium crime as a whole,and the governor hoped to reduce the difficulty of law enforcement by reducing the frequency of opium crime.Finally,the crime of opium was determined in the form of "eternal law" in the New Criminal Law of the Qing Dynasty.However,the royal families enjoyed the privilege on violating the opium law,which cast a imperial shadow on the crime of opium.