Collecting、Accepting And Donating Redemption Of Qing Dynasty

Redeeming system has a long history,which has played an important role in history of feudal society development.As the last dynasty of feudal society,the development of Qing Dynasty’s law was the epitomization of all dynasties.The redeeming system of the Qing Dynasty was based on Ming while it had its own characteristics.This paper selects the three most representative redemption systems of the Qing Dynasty,namely,collected redemption,rendered redemption and donated redemption,as the main research object,and presents the process of the three redemption systems respectively from the perspectives of their application scope,redemption standard and restriction by combining with legal provisions and relevant cases.The redemption was developed on the basis of “the law of redemption” in the Ming Dynasty.It mainly targeted at vulnerable social groups,such as the old,the young,the disabled,the sick as well as women.The specified redemption was relatively small,which was affordable for ordinary people.In the Qing Dynasty,the redemption improved the restrictions on recidivism and false cassation,and effectively curbed the malicious crimes committed by people who were intended to take advantage of redemption.The amount of redemption remained unchanged and until the revision of the law and Western learning spreading to the East at the end of the Qing Dynasty,the amount of redemption of women was unprecedented increased.Rendered redemption inherited form “the cases of redemption” in the system of “cases of redemption” in Ming Dynasty.In the Qing dynasty,the redemption was gradually canceled the division between being in the capital and outside and the regulation of the capable handing in their wages to unify the applicable standards for redemption according to the regulations of redeeming outside,making payment or maintaining the original sentence.Compared with the Ming Dynasty,the scope of application of embezzlement in the Qing Dynasty was continuously reduced.In view of the disadvantages of the corrupted officials’ embezzlement in the Ming Dynasty,the Qing Dynasty clearly stipulated that “the redemption of corrupted officials in the Ming Dynasty is not allowed.” On the basis of collected and rendered redemption,the Qing dynasty also initiated a unique system of donated redeeming and became institutional rules during the Qianlong period,which greatly expanded the applicable scope of atonement.All can make payment to atone for their crimes from aristocracy to civilian according to the regulation.The applicable procedure of donated redeeming is very strict,which can only be submitted by the Ministry of punishments in Beijing and by the governors outside,and the final decisions were in the hands of the emperor.Donation had played a key role in easing the financial pressure of the country,but the standard of donation was very high,which fundamentally limited its application to ordinary people.In general,the redemption system of Qing Dynasty broke through the restriction of class status and was fairer in both the subject and procedure of application.Legislation concept was a combination of traditional Confucian thoughts of compassionate penalty and feudal ethics.Although the redemption system of the Qing Dynasty still had some drawbacks,its historical value far exceeded these limitations.