Research On Anti-corruption Legislation And Judicial Practices Of The National Government (1927-1949)

All officials were greedy and corrupt.They who owned the land were rich.The rich gentry were all bad.These were the criticisms of the Kuomintang at that time and later generations.National flourish or perish depended on the political integrity or corruption.The severe criminal laws were issued repeated in order to cleanse the defects,which improve the governance.These were the solemn commitment to the society of the National Government to establish a clean government.But two extreme contradictions were concentrated on it.In this period,the corruption of the government was well-known.But its efforts to prevent corruption,especially to regulate it through legislation,did not receive much attention.This article tried to draw the outline of the National Government’s anti-corruption legislation more comprehensively through all kinds of data,such as the thought origin,the main body activity,the case analysis and the practice effect.Legislation,as a theoretical externalization,cannot be separated from the guidance of certain ideas.Due of the special environment,Sun Yat-sen and other main leaders of the KMT had formed a clear anti-corruption legislation thoughts.They attach great importance to the system construction,the traditional culture and ethics.They draw lessons from foreign legal ideas and maintained heavy laws to punish corruption severely.At the same time,they insisted on the sociality of legislation in order to avoid the class nature of law.Their thoughts had the phenomenon of new and old interweaving and the coexistence of new and old.Because of their position and influence,their personal thoughts played a certain role in the society naturally.Their influence on legislation was beyond doubt,which constituted the foundation of anti-corruption legislation of the National government.During the period of the National government,the legal system was in its infancy.Although the legislative authority was defined by certain regulations,it was not fully implemented in fact.Quite a number of institutions participated in the formulation of laws and regulations which formed a situation of diversified legislative subjects.The legislative Yuan,the Supervision Yuan,the Examination Yuan,the Central Supervisory Committee of the KMT and other institutions were playing an important role in anti-corruption.They formulated laws and regulations within their respective jurisdictions to punish and prevent from the corruption,which had produced certain results.However,due to the serious corruption situation,the legitimate way could not meet the needs of clarifying officials.Chiang Kai-shek used the illegal way of secret agent to intervene in the corruption rectification,which showed the lack of legitimate legal means.At the beginning of Anti-Japanese war,the Provisional Regulations of Punishing Corruption promulgated by the National Government was a breakthrough point for in-depth understanding of anti-corruption legislation.This law was the first law named after corruption at the national level,and had played a certain role in punishing corruption,curbing corruption and disciplining officials.It has a strong color of party governance.A large number of severe punishment and the use of military law to try corruption cases highlighted the heavy rule and quick punishment principles,but its legislative technology is a little rough.This law was promulgated and implemented from 1938 until the end of Anti-Japanese war.Its application period was extended again and again.Even after the KMT retreated to Taiwan,the regulations remained in effect until it was abolished in 1954.The special law was originally enacted for wartime purposes,but it was effective in many historical stages.It showed that the National government is determined to punish corruption,but it also showed that the corruption situation was very serious.A detailed analysis of the regulations revealed the dilemma of anti-corruption legislation in the social environment at that time.The Nanjing National Government issued a large number of anti-corruption laws and regulations.They included not only the principles of the basic laws such as "Political Training Program","the Provisional Constitution in the Political Tutelage Time"," Constitution of the Republic of China",but also the specific rules of criminal law,criminal special law,administrative law,department and local regulations,which built up a huge and detailed legal system.The enactment process and content of these laws and regulations were significantly different from the old laws.In practice,the National Government punished a considerable number of corrupt persons,which layed a certain role in establishing a good political climate.However,due to the separation of impeachment and punishment,the life of civil servants was not guaranteed,and the authority of the law was lack,which led to the regulations had no practical effect.There was a huge gap between judicial practice and legislative expectation.Laws are not followed,law enforcement is not strict.The law was seen as nothing.The sword of law was raised high and fallen gently,a great fish escaped.Punishment was difficult to play practical results.In the process of the modernization of China’s legal system,the transition of this regime was shown.