Research About The Penalty System Of Qin And Early Han Dynasties

The penal institution of Qin and Han dynasties could be divided into two phrases: firstly Qinand early Han dynasties,and secondly after Wen Emperor’s penalty reform.The essay is concernedwith the former.Exciting progress has been made from numerous aspects in researches on penal institution ofQin and early Han dynasties used unearthed material. And some researchers began to study penaltysystem of this period as a whole. Based on the research and study of predecessors, this paper laysthe research emphases on the penalty system of Qin and early Han dynasties.The main body of the paper includes five chapters.Chapter1,"introduction", including explains why the author choose this topic, researchsubjects, literature review of relevant, researching significance, and researching methods.The later chapters are the main body of the article.Chapter2, Chapter3,"the basic structures of the penalty system of Qin and early Handynasties"(Part1)(Part2), revealing the basic structures of the penalty system based onclassification. The penalty classification includes academic classification and legal classification.The first sector investigates previous academic classification on penalty of Qin and early Handynasties and uncovers its disadvantage. An classification depend on nature divide penalties intodeath, corporal punishment, penal servitude (status punishment), property punishment. Thisdrawback of this classification is separate the compounded penalty artificially. Another academicclassification depends on generality and particularity. But how to classify is often in disagreement.There is lack in standards. The second sector deals with the legal classification on penalty of Qinand early Han dynasties. The excavated wooden tablets and bamboo slips show penalties aredivided legally in laws of Qin and early Han dynasties into capital offenses,"xingzui","naizui","zizui", etc. These classifications are meant to mark corporal punishment or not, slavery or not. Thethird sector attempts a definition of the"si, xing, nai" penalty system of Qin and early Han dynastiesin the transition process from slave five penalties to feudal five penalties.“Xingzui”of slave fivepenalties corporals punishment and life abasement into one. Then the two perspectives graduallychanged until Wen Emperor’s reformed on penal institution which abolishing corporal punishmentand establishing term punishment. After that, the meaning of "naizui" was gradually changed andeventually instead of names corresponding to term punishment better. The process that"Xingzui"and "Naizui" developed and then gradually declined and finally withered away embodies thetransition process from slave five penalties to feudal five penalties.Chapter4," series of penalties of Qin and early Han dynasties". The first sector gives ageneral overview of the subject. When scholars order penalties of Qin and early Han dynasties,distinction in character and function between them tends to be ignored. For this reason, the textuses two concepts:"defined penalty", and "decision penalty". The series of defined penalties andthe series of decision penalties are different. The second sector deals with defined penalties and its’ series in "the Two Year laws" of Zhangjiashan bamboo slips. The defined penalties are divided intoprimary defined penalties and side ones. The third sector deals with penalty applications and theseries of decision penalties which is a measure of the severity of punishments that an offender. Theforth sector, apply the two-series theory to analysis some problems, such as if the corporalpunishments of Qin dynasty are severe and numerous, what’s the next punishment lighter thandeath.Chapter5," special topics on the penalty system of Qin and early Han dynasties ". The firstsector would like to argue that "guixinbaican" is a penalty as an extra. The second sector discussesthe role of "gongxing" in the penalty system of Qin and early Han dynasties.In short, the study embody in two aspects: firstly is to change the academic classification onpenalty of Qin and early Han dynasties to the legal classification, and attempts a definition of the"si,xing,nai" penalty system of Qin and early Han dynasties in the transition process from slavefive penalties to feudal five penalties. Secondly is to change ordering penalties of Qin and earlyHan dynasties in one series, replace it by two series: defined penalty series, and decision penaltyseries, which reflect penalties’ character and function in the penalty system of Qin and early HanDynasties more exactly.