Legal Thought In The Tang Code

At the period of Emperor Xuanzong in Tang dynasty, the politics was well-regulated; the nation was strong and powerful, with the unprecedented flourishing economics. Tang Dynasty entered the heyday. Until that time, the feudal society of China had developed into its peak and reached the strong acme. Due to the complicated organizational rules and administration mechanism of the country at that time, it was necessary to summarize different kinds of decrees and regulations systematically. Thus, under the inspiration of the historical books compiled by the predecessor, the emperor and his ministers decided to try something new, compiling a new code of law which is different from all the previous ones, that is Tang Liu Dian. The emergence of this book reflected the fast development of administrative legislation in Tang Dynasty, which was a great reformation in the history of feudal code compiling.Tang Liu Dian is the breakthrough in the legal history of our country, which is an attempt for the legislators to set the administrative and criminal law independently. And it is emulated by the later dynasties. In Tang Dynasty, the active prevention of the feudal ethics and rites was organically unified with the administrative management and the function of legal punishment, which formed the thought pattern of "the rituals of state as the basis, the legal system for uses". As for the governing the officials, the emperor of Tang Dynasty developed a whole standard law for regulating the officials to make all the officials practice self-discipline consciously. The idea of administration by law in the code makes all the administrative organizations and relevant staff be clear of their responsibilities and powers, so all the departments and administrative officials are made to handle matters by law and perform rights by law. As an administrative code, it includes many thoughts of administrative laws, such as the pursuit of fairness in system allocation, the pursuit of efficiency in system running, and the pursuit of order in balancing the interests. Through the above three aspects, the harmony of social relationship can be enhanced so as to achieve the balance of interests.Tang Liu Dian is the oldest administrative code existing in our country, founding a precedent in the history administrative code, and originally creating a new code style, with unique social and historical values. It does not only exert some guiding values for political lives in Tang Dynasty, but also functions as the direct guidance and regulating tools for the political life in later generations. Besides that, the law thoughts of this code also have a lot of modern significance, providing us much reference and inspiration in the aspect of governing the officials by law and the administration controlling powers etc, to refine and improve the modern administration system.