A Cultural Investigation Of The Rule Of Law In The Western Han Dynasty

The law is both a dynamic cultural phenomenon, and also an important means to control the society. The Western Han Dynasty is the established period of China feudal society, the ruling group both make the Confucianism as the ruling ideology, and also create laws to maintain order. the rule of law as a social sanctions experienced constant theoretical reflection and practical exploration in the Western Han Dynasty about two hundred years of history, and formed an idea with Confucianism and Legalism and flexible enforcement tools, which had a strong ethical color and feature of rule by man, also had a great influence on the later China. Succeeding the ancient excellent legal inheritance, summarizing the legal lesson and revealing the causes and countermeasures of judicial corruption of Western Han Dynasty, this has a positive meaning for managing the current judicial corruption and constructing "the China base on nomocracy".This paper is divided into three parts discussed the law problems of the Western Han dynasty:The first chapter traces back to all classes of authors legal concept of the pre Qin period, mainly focus on the Confucian concept of the rule of law, the legal concept and the Huang-Lao Taoism of the rule of law. The expression of the Confucian, for the first is virtue, the punishment is supplementary, do not over-implementation of the penalty and be more tolerant, as well as the rule of law with a feature of rule by man; the Legalists advocated using severe law to govern the country, that the penalty can be achieved without penalty, which ultimate aim is to maintain the government of the autoctatic monarchy, in the final analysis, the rule of law is to maintain government by man; The Huang-Lao Taoism of rule of law can be summed up in "reasonable control", the Huang Lao Taoism does not oppose the use of penalty, but advocates that using penalty should keep a degree and law enforcement program. These ideas are the ideological basis of the rule of law, through to the historical summary and realistic grasp, the Western Han Dynasty continuous improved and fuse these thoughts, formed its own way about rule of law and legal thought.The second chapter is a historical study about of the rule of law of the Western Han Dynasty, which focal point is objective present the situation of the rule of law in Western Han dynasty. This chapter is divided into three section, including the sum of rule of law in Western Han, the ideology and nature of the rule of law. The first part introduces the judges and prison settings, the evolution of the rule of law from the "less and light" to "various and heave", the strong ethical feature of the rule of law, and the flexible enforcement methods of judge. The second part discusses the Western Han People’s understanding of the rule of law, because the Confucianism gradually become the mainstream in the Western Han Dynasty, the people’s understanding influenced by Confucianism so much, they thought that "punishment helps to enlightenment", and maintained the government should "advocate benevolent rule and be more tolerant for punishment", and the law should not put aside the moral. Of course, the Western Han Dynasty as an autocratic and centralized feudal dynasty, it is inevitable that rule of law was under the rule by man, the third section discusses in detail the nature of such people governing doctrine in the rule of law of Western Han, mainly for the emperor with special jurisdiction, the existence of the privileged groups, judicial corruption and the upright law enforcer often end with tears. In short, the rule of man and ethical color are prominent features of the rule of law in Western Han dynastyThe third chapter analyzes the impact of cultural factors on the rule of law of the Western Han Dynasty, which the political system, political ideology, the law and order situation, the law enforcement entities and their ideas occupy an important position. Autocratic and centralized political system determines the rule of law in Western Han Dynasty cannot get rid of the rule of man. Different ruling ideas between different rulers also make the law change in the aspect of social control. The situation of public security also affects the rule of law, the ancients believed that "the punishment may be heavy or light at different times", so the government should strengthen the rule of law in troubled times and abate the rule of law in peaceful times. The rule of law in the early Western Han Dynasty is mainly affected by the Huang-Lao Taoism; to the later, it is mainly influenced by the Neo Confucianism, and the main characteristics of the Neo Confucianism is the integration of Confucianism and Legalism; the disaster theory of "Yin and Yang" also has important influence on the rule of law in West Han Dynasty.Finally, the conclusion part summarizes the practice and thought of the rule of law of the Western Han Dynastyur,which have a referential significance for us to govern judicial corruption and establish "the rule of law of China" currently.