Preliminary Study On The Legal Thought Of Emperor Xianfeng

In feudal society, the emperor’s word is law, having legal authority and binding. Xianfeng Edict file recorded during the Xianfeng Emperor ruling issued in all aspects of the legislation, official, judicial, fiscal regime and other decrees, which epitomizes the Emperor Xianfeng’s legal Thought who rulers in an important period of social change in China. Researching based on Xianfeng Edict file, refining Emperor Xianfeng’s Legal Thought from the legislative outlook, official concept of judicial outlook, financial and other aspects of the legal concept of trying to uncover the causes and social basis of some inherent ills of Chinese society, lessons learned, and practice to be evaluated. This paper also attempts to prove through research Emperor Xianfeng is not incompetent, but he has done is not enough to change the course of history, at most, it delayed the demise of the Qing dynasty.