In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, criminal law came into being, which was divided into "light code", "medium code" and "heavy code", collectively referred to as "three codes". The purpose of the rulers' punishment is to control the Lebanese people more effectively.
Zhou Muwang ruled the Zhou Dynasty for fifty-five years, and he was keen to travel around the world in his early days, which led to feud between princes, corruption in official administration and abuse of criminal law. In the later period of his rule, he adopted the minister's suggestion and sentenced him to a moderate punishment. Due to the escalation of the price class conflict, he also felt that the criminal law was chaotic, so he ordered Prime Minister Lv Hou (called Fu Hou) to refer to the criminal law system of redemption in Xia Dynasty, modify the criminal law and formulate the punishment of Lu. King Mu also held a meeting to rebuild the criminal law and personally presided over the meeting. Making criminal law is a serious work, which is complicated and trivial. At the meeting, Zhou Muwang expounded the value and significance of formulating and abiding by the criminal law, talked about the detailed legislative standards and contents, and explained the ways to implement the law. Zhou Muwang's explanation is clear, which shows that he has rich legal practice experience.
This congress is a detailed record in the history books of our country.
The legal model of slavery is "rule by discussion, not by punishment". This model is constantly improved and perfected, and when it develops to a certain extent, it will inevitably produce Lu punishment. As far as criminal law is concerned, the Law and Punishment simply explains the purpose, standards and provisions of using punishment, and provides a way for rulers to use punishment, rather than a code with criminal law functions.
The legal value of Lu's punishment lies in its definition of a universal sentencing standard, which provides a universal principle of linking punishment for slavery law, thus making law enforcement a reality to a certain extent.
The article "Shangshu Zhou Shu Lu Punishment" recorded the content of Lu Punishment in detail, such as Wang Yue: "Hey, come! If there is state-owned land, there will be punishment. In today's Aner people, why choose non-human? Didn't he get punished in Fei Jing? What's the matter? Two have, and the teacher listens to five words. Five words and simple fu, just five punishments. Five punishments are not as simple as five punishments. Five penalties are not allowed, just after five. Five faults, only official, only anti-,only internal, only goods, only come. His crime is only fairness, and the main idea of his trial is to say, "Hey, come on!" " Zhou Muwang said. Princes and ministers with state-owned land, please listen to me and tell you how to apply the criminal law accurately. Who should be appointed to stabilize the people's hearts now? Not a saint? What should we pay attention to? Isn't it a punishment? What should we consider? Isn't it justice? When deciding on unfair imprisonment, both the plaintiff and the defendant are present, and the judge hearing the case will listen to the arguments of both parties; If the lawsuit is verified to be true and credible, it shall be handled in accordance with the fifth-class punishment promulgated by the state, that is, five punishments.
If the five punishments can't be used, they should be replaced by the five classics, that is, the five punishments. If the five punishments are not applicable to this case, they shall be dealt with by the five punishments instead. The disadvantages of the "five excesses" are: judges are afraid of power, publicize grievances, flatter in-laws, ask for bribes, and build cars behind closed doors. A judge who discovers the above drawbacks will bear the same legal consequences as a criminal. You must decide this case fairly and carefully!
In a word, Lv Xing is divided into five kinds of punishment, namely Mo, Mo, Jing, Gong and Da, with a total of 3,000 articles, which explains the basic standards and punishment system of the Western Zhou Dynasty in detail, and clarifies the viewpoints of "cautious punishment with morality" and "a legally prescribed punishment for a crime". Expounds the criminal law standards of "pardoning suspected crimes" and "mitigating suspected crimes"; Clarify the purpose of the judge's responsibility system; The applicable principles of "legal analogy" and "precedent" are determined, and the reference historical materials of redemption punishment are formulated. It can be seen that the criminal proceedings in the Western Zhou Dynasty have clear requirements: private prosecution and telling must have a complaint, otherwise it will not be accepted and legal fees will be paid. The steps of criminal proceedings in the Western Zhou Dynasty are roughly divided into private prosecution, prosecution, trial, judgment, appeal and execution, and have developed into a complete system. The original intention of making criminal law is: "Punishment is not for defeat, but for wealth."
In other words, the reason why the penalty is executed is not to punish the people, but to seek the welfare of the people and punish those murderers who commit crimes against the judges who try cases. The Western Zhou Dynasty stipulated that "it is better to break a prison than to break it", that is, to choose a judge, not a sycophant, but an upright gentleman, because it is necessary to enforce the law in handling criminal cases. It is forbidden to accuse the plaintiff and the defendant with the word "nothing is private", not to bully the weak and fear the hard, and not to engage in personal fraud regardless of public and private interests. If you violate the regulations, you will bear legal responsibility. Changna also stipulates that judges should go deep into the masses to conduct actual investigations and find out what happened, even if it is a small detail. Then enforce the law impartially. As long as there are doubts about the case, it will be handled lightly. There are no clear laws and regulations.
He refused to hear the case and was acquitted. Judges should also be cautious in enforcing the law, "only respect five punishments and achieve three virtues", which is used to establish honesty in society, cultivate good moral habits, safeguard social stability and unity, and enable the people to recuperate.
The criminal law document "Law Order" is mainly used for admonition, and its educational goal is those who are called "Sifang". In other paragraphs, these people are also called "Sifang political prison", "state-owned land" and "official surname" Because they have some genealogical connections with Zhou, they are also called "uncles, uncles, brothers and younger brothers" by Zhou. Because these people "have state and soil"
It is logical to be in charge of local political power and treat them as local governors, but they are only governors of the Western Zhou Dynasty, not governors of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Because there was such a huge WeChat in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which brought all the princes together, taught them the principles of law and punishment, safeguarded political power and ruled the people. It says "be wise to preserve our health", which shows that the rulers are convinced that the "middle way" theory can definitely govern the country. "Eight Opinions" and "Five Penalties" in China's ancient criminal law first appeared in Lu Punishment in an orderly way.
Compared with Shang dynasty, the criminal law thought of Zhou dynasty made a leap. In pre-Qin ancient books, Confucianism first systematically expounded legal terms such as crime and punishment, litigation, punishment and forgiveness; Zhuangzi didn't put forward any related ideas, and Mozi didn't elaborate the problem of crime and punishment. It was only later that legalists expounded their views on law and punishment in the system of "law, art and potential"
Therefore, the surname Lu has extremely important historical value. Later, Lu Xing was included in Shangshu. There is also a record in the fourth volume of Historical Records, Zhou Benji Si, that Lu Xing is obscure in Fu Ji and Shang Shu, and later generations have different explanations for this. The Interpretation of Lu Marching written by Mao Pengnian, a teacher of Ningxia University, has both annotations and translations. This is an easy-to-understand book. The Law Order is not only a precious historical material for studying the ancient Chinese legal system, but also some of its legal thoughts are still playing a role today.