Relative Concealment System And How To Apply It In Modern Society

The relative concealment system also known as the kinship concealment institution.It refers to some relatives that permitted by law can conceal crimes with each other,but they do not bear criminal responsibility for specific crimes.It is one of the important legal systems in ancient China society.In order to maintain the feudal rule and the long-term stability of the country,emperor of generations both continue to adopt relative concealment system.At the Western Zhou,the ideology of relative concealment system is just at thought germination stage.During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period,a student of Confucius wrote a book named The Analects of Confucius,it recorded Confucius and his students saying.In this The Analects of Confucius,most famous of the ideology of relative concealment system what was from Confucians is " A son or daughter commit a crime,his parent conceals the crime of his son or daughter.Or a adult commit a crime,his children conceal his crime.Righteousness is hidden in these behaviors that relatives conceal crimes with each other".It is also representative for Confucius is first one who put forward the ideology of relative concealment system in the period of spring and autumn and the period of warring states.Then the relative concealment system had been established in the Han Dynasty.In this time,the relative concealment system has changed from "one-way concealment" to "two-way concealment".In the all subsequent dynasties,like tang,Song,Yuan,Ming and Qing dynasties,the relative concealment system had further developed.However,the relative concealment system was abandoned because of definition as a feudal ideology after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.It was not embedded into the laws of that time.As a result of the complex and diverse historical reasons,there still retain the the relative concealment system and further developed it in Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan.The relative concealment system is not only enacted in our country,it also have the law provisions of the relative concealment in western countries.It can be traced back to Plato’s Euthyphro.According to Euthyphro wants to prosecute his father this law case,Socrates leads to the idea that sons or daughters should not accuse their parents.It can be seen that whether in China and in western countries,they both noticed the issue of the relative concealment system in the early period of history.In addition,western countries still maintain the legal provisions of the relative concealment system and the scope of the relative concealment system is further expanded.The current legislation prohibits the relative concealment system and encourages people to place righteousness above family loyalty.It makes people in a dilemma between law and family affection.If our country enforce the relative concealment system,it can avoid this dilemma.Meanwhile,it has maintained the harmony of the family and the society.In recent years,the academic circle has also become more and more heated discussion about the relative concealment system.Although the opinions are mixed,but most scholars hold a positive attitude towards the relative concealment system.The humanistic care,order value,benefit value and justice value are contained in the relative concealment system.These values are all pursued by modern social law.Researching the historical reasons why the relative concealment system can last for more than two thousand years in China has guiding significance to China’s legislation and judicature and is also helpful to promote the development of China’s legalization process.In order to better transform the relative concealment system into the current law of our country,we should have a specific legislative proposal.First of all,we should definite the relative concealment system as a right for citizens.Secondly,the system should have a limit of applicable subject,behavior,subjective essentials,legal responsibility and inapplicability range.Finally,there should also be a notification procedure for the relative concealment system,so as to understand your rights and obligations before you accept investigation from police station.