An Analysis On Death Penalty System In Tang Dynasty

As the most severe punishment in the world,the penalty of death played a very important role in the system of penalty in all dynasties.Tang Dynasty was the most glorious period for legal construction in feudal society,it was also the period when the system of five feudal punishments was finally established.As one of the five feudal punishments,the penalty of death gradually entered into mature stage in Tang Dynasty,and it became an important method for rulers to consolidate their imperial power.The study of the penalty of death in Tang Dynasty can contribute to deepen the understanding of feudal system of death penalty,and it also has significance for guiding the death penalty system in the construction of modern legal system.Through analyzing a large number of literature materials and relevant cases,it will explore the penalty of death in Tang Dynasty from two aspects: the legal institution and the legal ideology.As for the legal institution,it generalizes the origin of the death penalty system,including the birth and development of death penalty before Tang Dynasty.Then,it analyzes the related content of the penalty of death in Tang Dynasty from both the legislative aspect and the judicial aspect.As "The Tang Code" is the most typical representative of law in Tang Dynasty,the study of the legislative situation of the death penalty system in Tang Dynasty is mainly based on "The Tang Code".While the study on judicial level of the death penalty in Tang Dynasty refers to judicial cases according to relevant literature materials.As for the legal ideology,it based on the analysis of the legislative and judicial contents of death penalty in Tang Dynasty,combined with the legal thought in Tang Dynasty,which helps to summarize the principles and characteristics of the system of death penalty in Tang Dynasty.The death penalty system in Tang Dynasty is an important embodiment of the combination of rites and laws,which reflects the interaction between Confucian ritual thoughts and legislation in Tang society.The death penalty policy in different periods of Tang Dynasty also reflects the political and social situation at that time to a large extent.Even though the Tang Dynasty had passed a long time,the conception of being prudent in penalty of Tang Dynasty is still instructive in modern society.China adheres to the principle of “kill less,kill more carefully” at present,and restrict the application of the death penalty strictly,but there are still some problems in specific application and implementation.There are some experiences and lessons in the application of death penalty in Tang Dynasty which have certain reference value for the problems in legislation and judicature existing in our current system of death penalty.Judging from the attitude of the international community towards the system of death penalty in recent years,abolishing death penalty has become a common idea in most countries.Although it’s not suitable for us to abolish capital punishment immediately according to our current basic national conditions,as a whole,the mainstream view of Chinese academia is to abolish capital punishment finally.For this reason,in the next quite a long historical period,China should proceed from the actual condition of the system of capital punishment,improve relevant provisions and narrow the scope of capital punishment gradually,which will lay the foundation of the eventual abolition of death penalty.