Owing to the inadequacy of writing and. printing: materials for the period before the Chow era, little is now known of the condi: tions then existing. What, we do know came from collections of scattered information contained in ancient literature written at a later date. 'The oldest laws, regarding which authentic records may be found, were known as. the Five Punishments, which, in. view of their severity,' are referred to the ancient classics as Five Acts of Tyranny. This law is known to have been' in force during' the reign of Emperor Sun of the Vu Dynasty. It must be remembered that thit age, and the period im. mediately preceding, wei to by the Chinese' sages golden age in the annals of history fon account of the benevolent. in fluences exerted on the people Uhrough the personal virtues of the two ideal Emperors, Yao and San.
There is reason to believe that the. Five Punishments existed for some length of time before Emperor Sun. 'The punishments were -unquestionably' of the most. severe nature; including (1) branding of aco, (2) mutilation of nose, (3) amputation of legs, (4) castration, and (5) death, "At the period re: ferred to the size of the Empire was no larger than two or three Provinees. in the Northwest, and the people wore much simpler in action and thought, therefore easter to govern. So in' order to reduce] the severity of law, and instead applying the actual punishments, Emperor Sun introduced a new Jaw' which would permit inition of what were known historically as Vetorial "punishments. The wear-Ing of. veil of black colour, or by. pairing. one's face with, black pigment was taken as equivalent tov branding of the face; a dark red coat represented mutilation of nose; painting one's legs black denoted: their amputation; a pair of straw sandals for castration; fand finally wearing of cotton loth gown without a collar for decapitation. The pictorial punish ments were intended for the Chi-hose. The actual punishments were seldom inflicted except in dealing with the aborigines of the newly equived. tervitevies, "for at that era. and during the period immediately following, China was. in the state of growth,—extending her boundaries principally in the easterly and southerly. directions.
The Dread of Shame The idea of introducing the pic torial punishments must have been prompted. by the ruler's reluctance put into operation the actual form of punishment prescribed. by lev. The principle must have been the one of putting a convict to shame so as to arouse his dormant sense of honour and self-respect. The ancients, to their credit, seem to have had Higher sense of honour than the more recent generations, so that the mere fear of shame would be sufi-cent deterrent for malcontents. refrain from breaking the law. The Punishments are differently deseribed, one author has them thi (2) branding face with black pigment, (2) cutting of nose, (3) removal of the knee cap bone, (4) astration, to which women were also liable but the infliction was Jdone by a different method, and (5) decapitation. Under the heading 3, another author asserted that there were three grades of punishment, (2) by putting fron shackles around the Imee cap bone, (2) amputation of legs and (8) amputation of toes. Bach of the three forms of punishment had a technical name of its own, The ancients were not without knowledge of their cruelty, for they actually made demands for their reformation. It was these popular demands that induced the benevolent Emperor Sun to order the pictorial punishments to supplement. them, for which he won the hearts of his subjects, and his name is still being remembered today for that act. Shortly after Emperor Sun's reign, the Five Punishments were re-introduced, and remained in force until the Han period, when the first three forms of punishment were definitely ordered to be abolished, retaining only castration and death, Under the Tang rule, the punishments became standardised and supplemented by five other kinds of much milder and humane nature. They were (1) bambooing, (2) bas-mado, (8) banishment, (4) exile, and (6) decapitation. " The figure five was again chosen on account of its historical significance, for as a matter of fact, there were other forms of punishments in addition to the standardised five. This law continued remaining in force up to the fall of the Empire. China has today only three kinds of punishments that have been legalized, namely, death, imprisonment and fines.
Ancient Methods of Adminis tration of Justice Between the actual Five Punish: ments and the so-called. pictorial Punishments, there was an immense fi ference, and law at the time per. mitted this inequality and variation. This: wan n peculiar aspect: charac: teristic of that age, Law was not uniformly applied, the admitted rule being that In newly required tories the lenient law was applica bie on the principle that the: people hnd''not been' accustomed "to and Ueined in Ghinee culture; in tines of peace moderate law was only ap. plicable when warranted by." eft cumstances. So much hus been definitely teart, bot is not kow the three grades were delineated nor is there any Tegal interpretation. for each, This rule of variation was found necessary' inasmuch as. the country was stil in its. embryonic state in the process of absorbing the aborigines, und the Chinese were hen engaged in an empire-building The historial code of the Chaw Dynasty, known og the Chow Code of Ethics, contained. 000 articles, of which cartied the penalty of tone' of the Five Punishments. mentioned above. "There, were no fewer than 200 articles in that code calling for death punishment and 200 for castration. So law was unusually severe all through. This cade was compiled by Duke. Chow during his regency. It remained in force wut revised in the Han era.
must be observed that it was not called law o code, but its historical name was the Rule of Ethics lor Rites. From its name it may inferred that the ancients" did not possess the same conception as we have of Iam. The ancient Chinese conceived the idea that the ideal government should be the rile of morality rather than that of law. Te was under the influence of this belief that Chinese lay, institution and society developed. Chinese law makers, therefore, ald special stress lon moral obligations. and. personal ivtues. Chastity was most highly praised, and any offence against moral role and standards carried an guilty of illicit intercourse were: ruthlessly penalized. Adultery was punishable by castration, to which both parties were equally liable, and that punishment was only one degree Jess than the'maximum punishment}—death. Chinese showed unusual] vigilance in their, tain the sancity of marriage at an jeany stage.of development of the domestic institution. Each subsequent revision thereafter reduced the severity of low on the subject, until now it carries only a very) short term of imprisonment, The Judge's Discretion In addition to the five standard punishments, the ancients punished their minor offenders with exile, Ipastinadoes and imprisonment. Fines were construed as a method of redeeming a wrongful act by replenishing the national coffers. Records are Jacking as to how these were inflicted. Probably they were regarded as minor details so left to the discretion of the judge.
The Lu Ying, the oldest code in existence, Inid down several rules, some of which have become obsolete, but others are quite sound and compatible with modern ideas. One Tule vested in the judge freedom permitted to ex-findings a wide dis-Another required him. to base his judgment on evidence with full regard to it was, however, a conspicuous absence: lof what we now understand as the rules of evidence and procedure. 'A judge was then left without definite voles to guide him. A criminal intent by itself, unless accom panied by some overt act, not punishable, and no act constitutes:
crime in the absence of express. provisions in law: these two import fant legal doctrines were familiar to, the ancients though expressed in a. different form. Judges were ex-borted to exercise great care before inflicting punishment and the accused was to be given full opporttunity to defend himself. Official corruption was held to bea serious crime.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.