1. Ming Law and Ming Dynasty Law
(1) "Da Ming Law". The Code of the Ming Dynasty was compiled by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, in the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It was completed and promulgated in the 30th year of Hongwu's reign. It has 7 chapters, 30 volumes and 460 articles. It changed the traditional criminal code structure and changed it to seven sections: names, officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, and work to meet the needs of strengthening centralization. The "Da Ming Code" plays an important role in the history of the legal system. Its text is simpler than the Tang Code and its spirit is stricter than the Song Code. It became an unchangeable feudal law in the Ming Dynasty.
(2) "Ming Da Gao". While revising the "Da Ming Code", Zhu Yuanzhang hand-wrote four volumes of "Da Gao" between the eighteenth year of Hongwu (1385 AD) and the twentieth year of Hongwu (1387 AD) in order to prevent "traitors outside the law". , ***Article 236, has the same legal effect as the "Da Ming Code". "The Imperial Edict of the Ming Dynasty" embodies Zhu Yuanzhang's thought of "ruling the world with great importance". Dagao is a special criminal law in the early Ming Dynasty. The name of Da Gao comes from the Confucian classic "Shang Shu Da Gao", which was originally the admonition given to his subjects by Zhou Gong when he conquered the Yin survivors in the east. Taizu of the Ming Dynasty compiled and compiled the cases he personally tried, and added the "instructions" issued due to the cases, and promulgated them to the world as a special decree to instruct his subjects. Da Gao generally increased the punishment for the original crimes in the law. Another characteristic of the imperial edict is the abuse of extrajudicial punishments. "Administering officials with heavy rules" is another characteristic of the imperial edict. After the death of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial edict was shelved and has no legal effect.
2． The compilation of laws and regulations in the Qing Dynasty
(1) The "Laws and Regulations of the Qing Dynasty" began to be formulated in the first year of Qianlong. The structure, form, style, and chapters of "Daqing Code" are basically the same as "Da Ming Code". There are 7 chapters named Laws, Official Codes, Household Codes, Rite Codes, Military Codes, and Gong Codes. Among them, the text Article 436. Since the Qianlong period, the legal text was basically finalized and rarely revised. Later dynasties only continued to add "supplementary regulations" after the legal text. The "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" is the last feudal legal code in Chinese history. The "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" is based on the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty" and is a comprehensive collection of traditional Chinese feudal codes.
(2) Examples of the Qing Dynasty. The most important legal form in the Qing Dynasty was the case. Example is a general term, which can be divided into regulations, rules, cases, established examples and other titles.
Generally speaking, regulations refer specifically to individual criminal regulations. Most of them are compiled into the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" and are attached to a certain legal article.
A regulation is a legislative proposal proposed by the Ministry of Punishment or other administrative departments on some similar cases. After approval by the emperor, it becomes a case to guide the trial and judgment of similar cases. Then, through the compilation activities of "one minor revision every five years and one major revision every ten years", the regulations were compiled into the "Qing Dynasty Laws and Regulations" by the Law and Regulations Office, or separately compiled into separate criminal regulations in certain aspects.
Rules refer to a single line of regulations for an administrative department or a specific matter. It is a basic rule formulated for the responsibilities and work procedures of various government departments. As one of the important legal forms in the Qing Dynasty, "Zeli" played an important role in national administration.
An example refers to an "edict" issued by the emperor on a certain matter or a suggestion made by a government department approved by the emperor. Examples generally do not automatically have permanent and universal validity, but they can serve as guiding principles for dealing with the matter.
Chengli, also known as "fixed regulations", refers to cases that have been compiled and compiled. It is a single law. Chengli is a general term that includes regulations and individual administrative regulations.
3. Ming and Qing Huidian
(1) "Da Ming Huidian". The compilation began during the reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty. It was initially compiled in the fifteenth year of Emperor Xiaozong's reign, but was not promulgated in time. In the three dynasties of Wuzong, Shizong and Shenzong, the school journal was added and supplemented. The "Da Ming Huidian" is basically modeled after the "Liu Dian of the Tang Dynasty" and uses the six-department official system as the outline, describing the responsibilities and examples of each administrative agency. Under each official position, laws and regulations are recorded first, followed by examples. Therefore, the "Da Ming Huidian" is still an administrative code in terms of its content, nature and function, and plays a role in adjusting national administrative legal relations.
(2) "Qing Huidian" and Qing Dynasty Administrative Law.
In order to standardize the organization and activities of state agencies, strengthen administrative management, and improve the governance efficiency of officials, starting from the Kangxi Dynasty, the Qing court imitated the "Ming Huidian" and compiled the "Qing Huidian" to record the responsibilities and cases of major state agencies in each dynasty. , activity rules and related systems. There are five huidians of Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing and Guangxu, collectively known as the "Five Dynasties Huidian" and collectively known as the "Qing Huidian".
Since the compilation of "Qianlong Huidian" in the 27th year of Qianlong's reign, the compilation of "Qing Huidian" has always followed the principle of "taking the classics as the outline and the examples as the purpose", and the classics and examples were edited separately. It became a fixed pattern.
What is contained in the "Huidian" is generally the basic system of the country and rarely changes. Specific changes will be completed in the revised "Rules".