| A contract is an agreement formed by mutual agreement between the parties and is designed to determine the rights and obligations of the parties.It is a product of the development of the commodity economy and has continued to develop and grow throughout history.As the commodity economy continued to develop and the gap between the rich and the poor in society widened,folk lending activities,as an important part of social and economic life,played a great role in adjusting the social order and safeguarding the rights of the people in many ways.The existing studies on folk lending contracts in the Tang dynasty are rather general in their use of historical materials,focusing mainly on the lending system as a whole,and discussing the operation of the folk lending problem and the impact of the lending contract system in a single way,without making full use of the important value of the existing excavated documents,and without combining the lending contract system with the social context and economic culture.By examining the Tang loan deeds excavated at Dunhuang and Turpan,and by digging deeper into the reasons and information behind them,and by combining them with the relevant regulations on folk lending and borrowing in the Tang decrees,it is possible to analyse the real situation of lending and borrowing activities in practice.The study shows that the people had a large demand for loans in the traditional agrarian society of the Tang Dynasty,which indicates that there were a large number of moneylenders in the society at that time,who not only provided more financing channels for the officials,but also provided a more convenient way of financing for the poor people,thus contributing to the development and progress of the society.As the practice of high interest rates continued to emerge,the Tang government had to take measures to prevent financial crises,mainly by controlling the format of lending contracts,interest rates,performance of contracts and liability for breach of contract to ensure that the financial situation was effectively controlled.The legal provisions of the Tang Dynasty provided strong safeguards to enable private lending activities to proceed smoothly.Although it may have had limited effect in enhancing finances,its importance in the financial system should not be overlooked,as it not only helped to alleviate social conflicts,but was also extremely important in terms of its value for future generations.By analysing historical sources and comparing the Tang Dynasty’s well-developed debt security system with today’s civil law claims system,we conclude that the superiority of the Tang Dynasty’s legal system of private borrowing and lending,as well as its great significance for our socialist rule of law today,can be drawn upon.Although the highly developed loan contract system of the Tang Dynasty was an inevitable product of the development of the commodity economy,it also had certain historical limitations.Therefore,we should learn from our past experience and improve the modern civil law claims system to ensure the smooth implementation of the socialist rule of law. |
