Contract Of The Han Dynasty

Contract, or deed, is called "agreement" today. It is a binding agreement betweenparties to establish, alter or break off civil relations. Contract dates back to ancient timeof China. But it is not until Han Dynasty, with the development of commercial economyand the deepening of civil intercourse, contract reaches its comparative perfeetion. Itsgreat variety and forceful function shoue that the establishment of contract has enteredvery field of civil relations at that perild. As a legal-socialogical concept, contract richsocial and cultural connotations. It reflects the all-round social relations in Han Dynasty.In terms of content, the contract in Han Dynasty generally falls into six types;contract of creditor's right(purchase and sale agreement, loan agreement andemployment agreement) indentify contract (slave's body-selling contract, marriageengagment) partnership contract, undertaking contract, entrust contract and ownershipcontract(testament and presentation agreement) The contract with its great variety andformal perfection is the fruit of commercial economy development. What's more, itprovides good conditions for further economic development.There are three factors incolved in the establishment of contract in Han Dynasty.First, the parties concerned must be the citizens enrolled in the country's residencebooklet. A party without an identity proof is not entitled to sign a contract. Second,besides the party concerned, the medium grarantee (witness and guarantor) is alsoindispensable for the establishment of contract. This is decided by the nature of contract.Third, the content of the contract must be legal, (Violation of the laws and rules is notallowed ) faithful(the intention of the party concrnerned should be truthfully expressed)and consistent (the clanses in the contract should be agreed by both sides).The contract in Han Dynasty is forceful. Once put into operation, it will defend theeconomic and civil rights of the parties effectively. Punishment to the violation of thecontract are three kinds: fine, mortgage on the loan and law restrain. The civil relationsare improved in order thanks to the binding force of law, which reflects the rationaltedency in the course of relational adjustment in Han Dynasty. When the contrad fails tObe carried out due to some objective reasons, the debtor should make propercomPensation tO the creditor.In Han Dynasty there are three ways to break off the contfact, namely, natgral(break-off agreed break off and legal break off Once a coniract ceases to work, anyedion intending to keep the overdue civil rights is illegal.)ComPared with other periods in China's fedual history, the contract in HanDynasty has fOur distinctive features; First, like man, woman become the patyconcemed in the coniract. Second, the pure economic factor involving in the coniract isstrong, while the suPer-economic political factor is comParatively weak. Third, both thestate's virfuous illterference of economic contract and regnlation of the price and rateare based on the promotion of commercial economy and with the quidance ofcommercial economic development as its major principle. And the contract inpndership accounts for a certain proportion, which is the result of commercialeconomic development in Han Dynasty, and the active stimulus to furthur developmeni.As an important phenomenon of Han Dynasty, contract is a sign of civilizationdegree and the proof of Han Dynasty's being the initial period in the feudua1 legalhistory of china. The exp1oration of Which contribUtes a lot to the study on the socialhistory of Han Dynasty...