Joint And Several Liability System Of Officials In The Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty is the most powerful dynasty in the feudal society of China.The rulers of the Tang Dynasty,who are above all others,pursued the policy of strict administration of officials to stabilize the ruling foundation and maintain social order.Like the previous feudal dynasties,joint and several liability system of officials,as an important part of official administration,was extended to the historical stage of the Tang Dynasty and became a handy political tool in the hands of the rulers.The idea of governing officials without governing the people,which is contained in the joint and several liability system of officials in the Tang Dynasty,was first put forward by Han Feizi,a representative of the Legalists in the pre-Qin period,and then went through the continuous development of the Qin and Han dynasties,the Wei,Jin,and the Southern and Northern Dynasties,and finally reached its peak in the Tang Dynasty.The Tang Dynasty carried out a lot of exploration and practice on joint and several liability system of officials,clearly distinguished the concept of public crime and private crime for the first time,and established that the subjective motive of the crime committed by officials in their official activities was not selfish as a public crime,on the contrary,it was the standard for the division of private crime,which provided a standardized basis for the conviction and sentencing of judges in the trial of official crime cases,with strong operability.On the basis of distinguishing between public crimes and private crimes,the Tang Dynasty divided the joint and several liability system of officials into four types according to the different objects of sitting in office,namely,sitting in public crimes,sitting in stolen crimes,sitting in the hands of the host,and sitting in the hands of relatives.These provisions were distributed in the Tang Law Review and the imperial edicts issued by the rulers,forming a complete and strict legal system of the joint and several liability system of officials.Through the analysis of judicial practice,it is found that the joint and several liability system of officials in the Tang Dynasty has not been well implemented in reality.The majority of cases are not judged according to law,and the punishment of a small number of cases is aggravated.The sentencing of most cases is lighter than the legal provisions,and administrative punishment such as demotion and salary are mainly used.This is because the rulers enjoy the privilege of replacing the law with power and breaking the law with power,and the "rule of man" color is strong,and the legal system is impacted.Under the influence of Confucianism,the Tang Dynasty paid attention to the education of officials in legislation,such as the establishment of the provision of "voluntary punishment of public errors",and the implementation of the policy of "reducing the harm and reducing the crime",which were the result of the Tang Dynasty’s respect for the principle of mercy and prudent punishment.According to the Tang Law Review,the local governor has the obligation of publicity and supervision in the local administrative affairs.If he or she fails to perform his or her duties,he or she should be punished according to the principle of "the chief",which is different from the principle of "the chief" stipulated in the General Principles,and is a manifestation of the accuracy of legislation.According to the background of the times,for the Tang Dynasty,the joint and several liability system of officials showed great vitality in improving the efficiency of national governance,improving the administrative ability of officials,and promoting the construction of a feudal and clean government.However,for the contemporary society,the joint and several liability system of officials violates the principle of "taking responsibility for one’s own responsibility" of modern rule of law,which is a very unfair practice and is not conducive to the construction of modern civilization.