The Ancient Chinese System Of Direct Appeal Study

Zhisu was a procedural system that actually existed in ancient China. It meant that for people who had serious cases and could not take legal actions, lawsuits could be brought to the top leader of the country beyond the range of common case and appeal acceptance. As one of the means of ancient injustices relief system, Zhisu was not an ordinary appeal procedure, differing from the official retrial system. In ancient China, its most common form was Wendenggu, as well as Yaochejia and Shangbiao.Only serious cases could be taken to Zhisu, and the limitation became even stricter in Ming and Qing period. Serious cases could be divided into national security cases, heavy criminal cases and ones with large influence. The exceptions are cases related to marriage, real estate and debt disputes. However, the practice was much complex, and there indeed was a small amount of minor civil cases taken to Zhisu proceeding before mid-Ming period. The system represented citizens' wishes to have honest officials and subtle attitude towards lawsuits. Zhisu takers often tried to create troubles and even to be autotomic to make it seemed like a big one, so they were treated as adverse selectors by the government and such behaviors were strictly forbidden.Honestly, there were some advantages for Zhisu to improve ancient injustices relief system, but it also had inevitable historical limitations under feudalism and autocracy in which jurisdictions and administration combined as one. Anyway, experiences can be learned and it still has some influences in today's social life. For instance, there are many citizens that still want honest officials in their minds, especially the letters and calls people. So the downsides and upsides of Zhisu may provide some resolutions on letters and calls problems nowadays.The thesis can be divided into four sections. The first section discusses the forms and legal provisions of Zhisu in ancient China; the second one introduces its running experiences and limitations; the third part analyses people's attitude towards Zhisu; and at last objective evaluation is made to the practical results of the system, and some suggestions are given in order to solve letters and calls problems at present.