Recently, some readers suggested that Yu Shi write an article about " Da Qing Statutes". Although Yu Shi also covered the justice of the Qing Dynasty, it is not easy to write after all, especially "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" is a code, it is difficult to explain clearly through an article.
In order to allow readers to have a basic understanding of the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty", this article focuses on the revision of the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" and the main features of the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty". A simple introduction, as for the specific terms, I won't go into details.
The development of the Laws of the Qing Dynasty
During the Nurhachi period, the post-jin regime was still in the process of transforming slavery and feudalism, and all aspects of the system were still relatively backward. At that time, most of the people who committed crimes were punished by simple and rude methods, such as killing, imprisoning, or seizing their soldiers, or seizing their wives, concubines, slaves, and family wealth.
Emperor Taiji has transitioned to a feudal society after taking the throne, and the awareness of the legal system is gradually rising, and the supreme ruler is also trying to establish a preliminary judicial system. Shunzhi After entering the customs, faced with extremely acute and complicated class and ethnic contradictions, he began to formulate relatively complete laws.
In August of the fourth year of Shunzhi, the first law book of the Qing Dynasty was completed, called "The Bylaws of the Collection of Laws of the Qing Dynasty". The whole book is divided into ten volumes with a total of 485 articles. The appearance of law books laid the foundation for the construction of the legal system in the Qing Dynasty.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it was a waste of time. The "Bylaws of the Collection of Daqing Laws" was also revised on the basis of the "Daming Laws", and it can even be said to be a reprint of the "Daming Laws".
In the 9th and 18th years of Kangxi, the existing laws were adjusted and compiled into the "Existing Regulations". After that, they were revised many times. It was not until the forty-sixth year of Kangxi that they were finally compiled into the "Great Qing Dynasty". There are forty-two copies of the Laws, but the first draft of the Laws of the Qing Dynasty has not been officially issued.
After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he revised the decree in the first year, and decided to delete and revise the regulations that were implemented from the 47th to the 61st year of Kangxi. Yongzheng completed the work in three years and promulgated the "Bylaws on the Collection of Laws of the Qing Dynasty" in five years, with a total of 436 laws and 815 laws.
After Qianlong succeeded to the throne, he began to revise the laws of the Qing Dynasty. The original laws were reviewed and revised one by one, and they were completed in the fifth year of the Qianlong period. The Law of the Qing Dynasty and promulgated the world.
"Laws of the Qing Dynasty" is the last code of the feudal era in China. Although it is also based on the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty", it is a collection of feudal codes of past dynasties. Legal basis.
In order to better govern the various ministries in Mongolia, soon after the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" was promulgated, the Qing government also formulated regulations specifically applicable to Mongolia, and compiled the various clauses into the "Regulations of the Lifan Yuan", a total of 700 Article 13 became the basic law of Mongolia. In addition, there are "Rules of Panyi in Xining and Qinghai", "Rules of Tibet", "Regulations of Tuntian" and so on.
"Laws of the Qing Dynasty" started from the second year of Shunzhi to the early years of Qianlong, which lasted nearly a hundred years. During Jiaqing, Daoguang , Xianfeng , and Tongzhi , minor amendments were made to the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty", and it was officially abolished in the first year of Xuantong and renamed as "The Current Criminal Law."
The basic characteristics of the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty"
The "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" involves many aspects, as many as more than a thousand articles, there is no way to list them one by one, only from the big ones To make a basic generalization of it, it mainly has the following characteristics:
1. Consolidate the central power
The revision of laws in the past dynasties is a tool for the ruling class to exercise dictatorship over the ruled class. The birth of "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" also marked that the centralized authoritarian power extended to every region and every corner of the country.
In the laws of the Qing Dynasty, all those deemed to endanger the foundation of the country’s rule and violate the feudal program’s common names are classified as “ten evil” felony crimes that are “unusable by permanent pardons”, and their punishment is much heavier than the law of the Ming Dynasty. Much.
The law of the Qing Dynasty stipulates that the two crimes of conspiracy and conspiracy are both crimes, regardless of the priority, as long as the conspirators are sentenced to death. At the same time, the father and son, grandchildren, brothers, and cohabitants must be implicated. All men over 16 years old will be executed and their property will be sent to the government.
There is one more peculiar rule in the Qing law. In order to prevent the Han people from using religion or alliances to set off resistance struggles, it is stipulated that people of different surnames form alliances and worship brothers, and they will be punished without precedent for rebellion. 電該候, the follower will be reduced by one; if twenty people are gathered, the leader will be strangled, and the follower will flow three thousand miles to fill the army. In addition, heavy penalties were also imposed on anti-grain gatherings, market strikes, and theft.
2. Maintaining the interests of the imperial power and the landlord class
The imperial power of the Qing Dynasty has been highly concentrated since Qianlong, and adhered to the basic creed of "I am the country". In the whole world, only the emperor has the right to live and kill, and a decree can determine the future and destiny of others.
There are many provisions in the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" that clearly and publicly declare the protection of the landlord class's property rights and rights of exploitation. It stipulates that tenants who owe land rent must be sentenced to . It must be returned on time and in number. Severe punishments are also imposed on all kinds of behaviors that violate the interests of the landlord class and disrupt the ruling order.
3. Banner holders have legal privileges
When we talk about the ancient judicial system, we often refer to " ", that is, discussing relatives, discussing expensive, advocating, discussing merits, discussing power , Discuss merit, discuss diligence, discuss guest. There are also "Eight Discussions" in the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty", but this is aimed at the nobles and bannermen.According to the rule, princes, nobles and bannermen who violate the law can be exempted or mitigated.
Bannermen who violated the law were not handed over to the local government as a rule, but were tried by the Infantry Commander Yamen and the Department of Internal Affairs and Prudence in Beijing. In the process of sentencing, banner people enjoy legal privileges compared to ordinary citizens. Even if they violate the same law, the results of the punishment of citizens and banner people are quite different.
"The Laws of the Qing Dynasty" is the basic law of the Qing Dynasty. Like the previous dynasties, its essence is to maintain the supreme rule and at the same time take care of some special groups of people. For the general public It's not fair, but it's just a judicial tool made by the ruler for the ruled.
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