On The Legislation And Judicature Of The Eastern Zhou Period

The Eastern Zhou Period, the Ancient China’s legislation and judicature hadtaken place significant changes. In the Eastern Zhou Period, the aims and purposes ofthe legislation and judicature had transformed from maintaining the patriarchalhierarchy to maintaining the bureaucracy of safeguard monarchy. Legislative subjectshad transformed from the multi-level legislative subjects in the Spring and AutumnPeriod to a single legislative subject in the Warring States Period, the contents of thelegislation had transformed from not publicly to publicity, in the legislation thoughtthe idea of theocratic legislation had gradually weaken. The Spring and AutumnPeriod judicial rules slipshod, the Warring States Period, tend to be fine, andinstitutionalized. Patriarchal hierarchy, kiss principle in judicial activities in theSpring and Autumn Period had played an important role, monarchical power and clanauthority had intertwined, the patriarchal relations had constrained judicial power, thestate power of the Warring States Period had enhanced a dominant position, theimpact of the patriarchal hierarchy weakening in the judicial activities.The book “Zhou-Li” was of great significance of the legal research of theEastern Zhou Dynasty. The book “Zhou-Li” described the idealized governingblueprint. In the book the law publishing, the judicial officials, the trial procedures,the trial period, the penalty system were not exactly the same as the legal practice ofthe Eastern Zhou Period. In the book, the “Shu-Shi”（束矢） system andthe“Jun-Jin”(钧金)system had been taken symbolic significance to represent upright.The“Jun-Jin”(钧金)system had rare used in the adjudication of cases in the WarringStates Period. According to the available information, the“Lu-Gu”(路鼓)system, the“Fei-Shi”（肺石）system and the “Jia-Shi”（嘉石）system had not used in the legalpractice of the Eastern Zhou Period.In addition to the geographical environment and the development of theproductive forces during the Eastern Zhou Period, people’s communicative action hadalso played an important role in the evolution of legislation and judicature. The Theory of Communicative Action think people’s communicative action is the samethe basic driving force and the basic form of the social development as the productiveforces. The Theory of Communicative Action which based on the philosophy oflanguage, pursue the ideal discourse situations, think the Life World which dividedinto three levels of “culture”,“society” and “personality” constitutes the backgroundof the people’s communicative action, think the law belongs to the “social” level.The patriarchal hierarchy which had standardized people’s behavior hadconstituted the Life World in the Western Zhou Period and the Spring and AutumnPeriod. However, in the Mid of the Western Zhou and the Spring and Autumn Period,the rules of the patriarchal hierarchy had not strictly adhered to in the people’scommunicative action, the violation of the rules of the patriarchal hierarchy hadconstantly appeared. The rules of the patriarchal hierarchy had not been the functionof standardized people’s behavior and maintained the social order, the aims andpurposes of the law which had maintained the patriarchal hierarchy had not played apunitive role as before. The legitimacy of the patriarchal hierarchy had come to passcrisis.According to the logical development of the Theory of Communicative Action,the law, the law language which has the function of converter occupies a centralposition in the people’s communicative action. The law contains a variety of rules;people have established social relationships through communicative action in real lifewhich have abstract, universal binding on people’s behavior only through the law.Thus, in the Mid and Late of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Early and Mid ofthe Warring States, the legislative activities frequently, the vassal states had universalemphasized on the legal changes, the aims and purposes of the legislation andjudicature had transformed from maintain the patriarchal hierarchy to maintain thebureaucracy of safeguard monarchy. The Eastern Zhou Period, the Zheng Guo, the JinGuo and the Qin Guo’s choice of the road of the development and their legal systemhad profoundly impacted on the historical features of the Eastern Zhou Period and theprocess of the development of the ancient Chinese history. The changes of the law ofthe Jin Guo and the Qin Guo were particularly important. In the Warring States Period,the activities of the legal changes of the vassal states had established the dominant order of totalitarian autocracy. The bureaucracy of safeguard monarchy which hadstipulated people’s communitive action had constructed people’s new Life World.The legal process is not only the tools and the means of achieve substantive laws,but also load and reflect the intrinsic value of independent of the entity objectives andhas nothing to do with the results which they generate. The primary goals of thelegislation and judicature are resolve fairly the conflicts and disputes among theparties. The legislation and judicature in the Eastern Zhou Period had stressed thefairness of the law and had emphasized on the impartial adjudicating cases, but due tothe limitations of the social and historical conditions and the insignificancy of thepeople’s knowledge of the value of the program of the Eastern Zhou Period, hadpublicly confirmed people’s identity privilege in the legislation, people’s status weredifferent in the judicial activities, there were injustices of the judicial process in theadjudication of cases.