| The feudal society of China falls into the category of early-maturing ones . The agricultural production has always been the main melody of the feudal society for a long time . Apart from this , tenancy relationship is closely related to people's livelihood . Thus , the tenancy contract deriving from this should be able to reflect most both the developing condition and concept of contract in the society at that time . But the word of tenancy does not exist by nature in ancient time . The Chinese character "zu"means land tax , and "dian"means farm in ancient time . With the appearance of private ownership of land and the gradual development and evolution of feudal economy , "zu"and "dian", these two Chinese characters gained new derivative meanings beyond their original meanings , in order to adapt to the need of social economic development . Tenancy relationship is closely related to land system . So only by thinking of both of them synchronously , can we grasp precisely the developing process of tenancy relationship in history , and gain a deeper understanding of evolution of tenancy contracts . The first chapter of this thesis , viewed from the macro-angle , divides roughly the developing stages of tenancy relationship and tenancy contract . The first stage ranges from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of Western Han Dynasty , a embryonic stage of tenancy relationship and tenancy contracts . Because at this stage , the system of national ownership of land occupied a leading position . Tenancy relationship only took place in a very small scope . The second stage ranges from the middle of western Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties , at which tenancy relationship and tenancy contracts developed preliminarily and fell after a rise . From the middle of the Western Han Dynasty , the private ownership of land began to develop , and occupied a leading position gradually ; the tenancy relationship gained a preliminary development . But when it comes to the Eastern Han Dynasty , because of the expansion of powerful landlords'power , the "hardening"of private ownership of land , the development of ownership of big land without limit , and the standstill of tenancy relationship were brought about . As a consequence of this , tenancy contracts also experienced preliminary development and fell after a rise . The third stage ranges from the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty , at which tenancy relationship and tenancy contracts developed deeply and were widely brought about . Both in the early years of the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty , "Jun Tian institution"were carried out , the peasants owned land which couldn't been draw back forever , and the attachment of body weakened . And also under the influence of other social factors ,the tenancy relationship developed more deeply . when it comes to the Song dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty , the feudal economy become more flourishing and the tenancy relationship was widely carried out . Under this circumstance , tenancy contract was perfected step by step . The fourth stage ranges from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty , at which the tenancy relationship and tenancy contract were popularized and tenancy relationship was dissimilation . In the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty ,feudal industry was more flourishing ,tenancy relationship was widely carried out ;at the same time , industrial farming technique and economic benefit of land increased remarkably . All these provide the historical premise for the independence of tenant farmer economy . Againstthis background , the ownership of land was divided into proprietary right and right of use , tenancy forever relationship was formed , and was transformed gradually into "one piece of land , two owners". Such complicated tenancy relationship accelerated the development and perfection of tenancy contracts once and for all , and influenced the formation and development of concept of contracts . The second chapter of this thesis , viewed from the micro-angle , based on atypical tenancy contract in the Yuan Dynasty , and connected with tenancy contracts of Turpan Uighur Script , makes a detailed comparison and analysis of the concrete articles in contracts . The nine tenancy contracts of land collected by Mr. Li Jing wei in his book belong to the period of Yuan Dynasty in terms of time . These contracts , compared with those existing in the Central Plains in the Yuan Dynasty , which were some what both similar and different , generally speaking , absorb the regulations in Yuan Dynasty on one hand , but on the other hand , retain more the tradition of Uighur in this region . Comparing and studying the contracts of the same type in the region of Central Plains in the Yuan Dynasty and those nine contracts from the angle of form , is of great value for understanding the evolution historu of contracts in ancient China . This chapter , firstly analyses the signing date of the tenancy contracts and the way of numbering the years , enabling us to gain a direct cognition of the evolution of these two articles , Secondly , it examines the two parties of the tenancy , the reason of hire or lessee , the location of land and the area of it , enabling us to see the information of ownership transmitted in these contracts , the comparative relationship of classes and habit of manufacture and life at that time and so on . we can analyze more clearly the process ofdevelopment of tenancy contracts through these contracts . Thirdly , it analyses the rent and the time of paying it . At last , it analyses the signature of witnesses and tenant , and some clauses in the ending part , so we can know more about the evolution of guarantee clauses and the ending part of the tenancy contracts . To sum up , due to the limitation of the quantity of the original material of contracts we have at hand , which can't involve all the situation in every dynasty , we can only base on the analysis of development of contracts in certain times and infer the whole developing process of contracts . The third chapter , viewed from the micro-angle , compares and studies the tenancy contracts of Dun Huang and those in ancient Rome . Our analysis will focus on the 14 tenancy contracts of Dun Huang collected in the book by Mr. Sha Zhi and the 1 contracts renting land of Dun Huang collected in the book by Mr. Zhang Chuanxi . The tenancy contract in ancient Rome , as we can see now , is a contract renting a grapery in Egypt Province in ancient Rome . At that time , the Egypt was a province of Rome Empire . So this contract can reflect the basic situation of the tenancy relationship in Rome Empire . Though under the circumstances of slavery simple commodity economy at that time , the form articles in contracts could only be at the developing stage , its basic articles and form could also reflect the style of tenancy contracts in Rome by and large . Although the contracts in these two regions are quite different in terms of time , we can demonstrate the differences in form , content and style of the contracts against different cultural backgrounds in different historical times by comparing the basic articles or clauses of the contracts , and expect to summarize some common... |
PDF Full Text Request