On The System Of Dismissing Officials In Tang Dynasty

Dismissing officials can be understood literally as removal from official duties.In Tang law,dismissing officials duties was a punishment for criminals with special status other than the five punishments.According to the law of the Tang dynasty,dismissing officials means that the two officials are exempted.Dismissing officials discussed in this article also includes the dismissing of the resident official.It is similar to the “dismissing officials”,but the punishment is lighter.In nature,the exemption of officials can be regarded as both criminal law and administrative law.Analyzed from various aspects such as the object and method of punishment,dismissing officials is more inclined to belong to administrative law,which is very similar to the modern administrative punishment system.It appears in the sentencing stage of judicial proceedings and can be written into the judgment.In terms of independence and subordination,simply referring to the Tang Law text,dismissing officials is closer to an additional punishment,which needs to be attached to the five punishments.However,due to the mixed application of dismissing officials,Guan Dang and redemption in the Tang dynasty,the exemption officials are more independent in judicial practice.At the same time,in judicial practice,dismissing officials duties is also widely used as a punishment.In summary,the removal of officials can be regarded as an administrative sanction with strong independence in the sentencing stage.The most specific content of the dismissing officials is in Tang law,where has detailed and systematic explanations of the criminal acts,applicable objects and execution procedures targeted by the exemption.In addition,there are some regulations on the exemption of officials written in Tang Ling,Tang Ge,and the Tang Liu Dian,the content of which is more scattered.The crimes corresponding to the“dismissing officials” article of Tang Law can be divided into four categories: the first category is personal and property crimes;the second category is duty crimes;the third category is escape from prison and escape crimes;and the fourth category is crimes against parents and grandparents.The dismissing of the resident official in Tang law takes violating of funeral norms and conditions for holding official positions as the main body,and regulates the behavior of lowly and adulterous households,official households,tribal wives and maidservants within the jurisdiction.In terms of execution procedures,crimes against officials have more detailed regulations in all aspects of trial and execution,which are scattered in laws,decrees,and codes.On the other hand,the regain of official positions after the suspension period expires is an important part of the official dismissing system.There is an article in the law that explains in detail how those who are exempted from officials can regain official positions.All in all,the legal provisions for the exemption of officials in the Tang Dynasty are very complete and have become a system,indicating the development and improvement of the exemption system in the Tang Dynasty.As an important part of the legal system in the Tang Dynasty,the exemption of officials was naturally not completely independent.It was inextricably linked to other systems.Delisting,Guan Dang and demotion are the three systems that are closely related to dismissing officials.Delisting and removal of officials are usually called“removal",and the two can be regarded as one of the heavier penalties in the same administrative punishment system.Guan Dang is similar in nature to the exemption of officials,and can be used in association under certain circumstances in specific implementation.Although demotion of an official is not a statutory punishment in Tang law,it is often used with removal of an official in actual cases to punish officials with different serious circumstances in the same case.Under special circumstances,demoted officials and exempted officials can also be converted to each other.Those who were originally exempted may be changed to demoted officials,and those who were originally demoted may also become exempted officials.In practice,there are many crimes that will be exempted from official duties,more common than the provisions of the Tang Law text.There are mainly reasons such as poor work,military mistakes,impact of the crimes committed by close relatives,forming a party and having careless private intercourse.In the implementation of the exemption procedures,there is also greater flexibility in practice,especially the time and rank of the regain of officials.On the one hand,this is because the exemption of officials has higher flexibility than the five sentence.On the other hand,it has also been greatly influenced by the emperor.The removal of officials not only reduces the use of actual punishment of officials because a large number of officials’ dereliction of duty is finally dealt with through the removal of officials,which is a manifestation of “excellent courtesy subordinates”;but also cause officials to lose their original status,power and material treatment,so it still has a great deterrent effect on officials.The exemption of officials had a profound effect on the governance of officials in the Tang Dynasty,and it also played an important influence on the exemption system of later generations.