Daming Law has changed the practice of dividing military law into many articles since Qin and Han Dynasties.

Daming Law has changed the practice of dividing military law into many articles since Qin and Han Dynasties. In the history of feudal legal system in China, two laws have the greatest influence. One is the Tang law of the Tang Dynasty; The other is the Daming Law of the Ming Dynasty. Daming Law is a more developed feudal code than Tang Law. Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Taizu who claimed to be "Huai You Bu Yi" and "from humble origins", attached great importance to the construction of feudal legal system. Zhu Yuanzhang came from the war at the end of Yuan Dynasty. In addition to summing up and drawing lessons from historical experience, he also witnessed two living facts: one is that politics was bleak at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, "Ji Gang was not established, Zhu Yuanzhang was like a barren minister, and Wei Fu moved down, because of poor laws, people were distracted", which caused chaos in the world; The other is a warlord who competes with him for the world. Some are rich and some are strong, but they have become passers-by of history because of "lawlessness, arbitrariness, gathering people to make trouble and not knowing how to rule". Comparing the two, we can't help but realize the necessity of legislative customization. In the early Ming Dynasty, the country was in chaos and the political situation was complicated. Zhu Yuanzhang said: "discipline and law are the foundation of governing the country", so we must do a good job in legislation and make the country have laws. After the chaos, the law relaxed. He strongly advocated "at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, taking discipline as the first priority", severely punishing "stubborn traitors" and maintaining extremely autocratic monarchy by legal means.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of Ming Dynasty, was a model of paying equal attention to Confucianism and law among feudal emperors. From the beginning, he was deeply influenced by the thought of etiquette and law. He attached importance to both "education" and the rule of law, and paid great attention to legislative work. He said: People born since ancient times will set governors to rule them. Otherwise, "the stronger the strong, the weaker the weak, and will be swallowed up in various ways, and there will be no peace in the chaos." To govern the people, it is necessary to set up hundreds of officials to divide government affairs; Second, it is necessary to make laws so that officials can act according to law.

In the winter of the sixth year of Hongwu (1373), Zhu Yuanzhang wrote a letter to Liu, the minister of punishments, which was written in February of the following year, 12, with 660 articles. In the ninth year of Hongwu (1376), Zhu Yuanzhang had some improper laws and ordered Prime Minister Hu to comment on three of them. Since then, it has been revised several times, increasing the loss. It was not until the thirtieth year of Hongwu (1397) that the Daming Law was finally compiled and promulgated nationwide. In the same year, the Letters Patent, Regulations on Death Penalty for True Miscellaneous Offenders and Regulations on Atonement were promulgated. A total of 236 articles have been published, including Dagu, Dagu Xu, Dagu San Edition and Dagu Xia, which are in line with Daming Law.

Daming Law is divided into 30 volumes and 460 articles. It is divided into seven chapters: name regulation law (general rules), official law (mostly administrative norms), household law (mostly civil law), ritual law (laws related to sacrifices and ceremonies), military law (laws related to national security and social security), criminal law (core part) and industrial law (laws related to architecture and river defense). "Daming Law" has made detailed and clear provisions on the penalty system of five punishments, namely, slap, stick, exile, and death penalty (strangulation and beheading). The content covers politics, economy, military affairs, cultural thoughts and social life. It was the fundamental law of the Ming Dynasty, which played an important role in consolidating the rule of the Ming Dynasty and embodied Ming Taizu's legal thought.

The salient features of Daming Law are as follows: First, in order to maintain feudal rule, the punishment for endangering feudal state was aggravated. Daming Law forbids courtiers to make friends with domestic and foreign officials in order to maintain the extreme monarchy. Severely punish violations of the property of the landlord class and protect the economic foundation of the extreme monarchy. Second, Daming Law focuses on punishing corrupt officials and easing social contradictions. Third, the legal adjustment of economic relations has been strengthened, and many economic legislations have been formulated, such as money law, tax law, salt law and tea law.

First, take "safety" and "stubbornness" as legislative purposes.

Zhu Yuanzhang's feudal legal thought is complete. It is "reassuring" and "stubborn rope". "Good people will sue, evil people will be brought to justice, good and evil will be persuaded and punished, and good and evil will promote governance." "Protecting the people" and "stubbornness" are the starting point of legislation and the fundamental problem of law, that is, who to protect and who to attack. These are two sides of the same problem. "An Min" must be "stubborn"; "Stubborn rope" is for "safety". After Zhu Yuanzhang came to power, on the one hand, he implemented the basic policy of "rest with the people", ignored taxes and reduced the burden on farmers; On the other hand, resolutely crack down on illegal and powerful landlords. This legislative thinking is also the guiding drama of Daming Law.

Zhu Yuanzhang is an emperor from a peasant background. He can be close to the society, close to the lower class, observe the people's feelings, and conform to the people's hearts in thought and action. Daming Law was formed in the specific historical environment in the early Ming Dynasty, which runs through his people-oriented thought. Judging from the guiding ideology of legislation, Zhu Yuanzhang "punished the strong and bullied the weak, made the poor and suppressed the rich" and helped the poor and suppressed the strong at the end of Yuan Dynasty. Judging from the specific provisions of legislation and the severity of sentencing, the decrees formulated by the rulers of the Ming Dynasty rarely have provisions specifically aimed at illegal people, and they are "relatively lenient"; Most of them are aimed at lawless strongmen, ministers, traitors and corrupt officials, and severe punishments are used. In the laws before the Ming Dynasty, it is difficult to find such severe punishment for illegal officials as Tai Gao.

Although the legal system is complete, it is also very important that "the cause changes with time" and can be added and modified at any time. Zhu Yuanzhang is good at sizing up the situation and making corresponding laws in time, so as to complement the laws and regulations such as Daming Law and Daguan. In the judicial aspect, Zhu Yuanzhang also made some innovations, and set up the "three law departments" of the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple and Duchayuan, respectively, to execute sentences, set up pickets and refute the truth, perform their duties and contain each other. The completeness of legislation and the distinctness of judicial system in Ming Dynasty were rare in the past.

Second, pay equal attention to punishment and education.

Punishing corrupt officials is another important feature of feudal legal thought in Daming Law. Zhu Yuanzhang said that he was "particularly concerned about criminal law." He is strict in law enforcement and dare not take it personally. If Xu violates the tea ban, he will be sentenced to death. Regarding the criteria for selecting cadres and the importance of law enforcement, he said: "If you are not an official, you will not be in charge; Improper use of punishment, no reason to suffer. " Only by pushing into the hearts of the public and expanding into a bright field of vision can the lawsuit be fair and straightforward, and those who have abolished it can be applied and those who have tied it can be released. If "the intention is improper and the public interest is sacrificed, why can the prison be justified and why can it be straight?" "Fighting high" focuses on punishing corrupt officials and lawless strongmen. The first three films are "those who are listed in the year are arrogant and prefer boys to girls. They are carefree for thousands and abandon the following tens of thousands." In the feudal legal history of China, there are few provisions that severely punish corrupt officials like Daming Law.

Daming Law is simpler than Tang Law. At the beginning of drafting, Zhu Yuanzhang pointed out that in view of the lack of folk culture at that time, "it is important to make legislation simple and straightforward so that everyone can understand it easily." Only by deleting the complex and simplifying it, so that everyone can easily understand it, can the law really play a role in keeping the people safe and stubborn. After the publication of dagao. Zhu Yuanzhang carried out the campaign of "speaking and reading" by means of administrative order, which made the universal education of the third edition of senior high school permeate every corner and every field. Awarded by the school as the content of imperial academy studies and imperial examinations; In the village, it was taught by the teacher. Whenever there are rural festivals and public gatherings, there are special people to explain the "big cake".

Third, "courtesy" is the foundation of governing the country.

"Rite" is the keynote of Daming Law, which is also one of the main concepts of feudal law. The rule of etiquette is the political thought of Confucianism, and its core is social norms and moral norms. It emphasizes observing the etiquette system, knowing the hierarchy and maintaining its position. A real society ruled by courtesy should also be a society ruled by law, with sound laws, handling affairs according to law, equality before the law and protection of citizens' legitimate rights and interests. In the feudal era, none of this could really be realized. At that time, the emphasis on etiquette and law naturally meant to bind the people's hands and feet and prevent them from "committing crimes and insurrection." The rulers of the Ming dynasty advocated "rule by courtesy", which was nothing more than that.

Fourth, "governing the country lightly"

Before the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was advised that if the usage was too wide, the people would not be afraid of the law and it would be difficult to govern. Zhu Yuanzhang said: usage is like medicine, it should save people, not harm them. If the medicine is not used properly, it will definitely harm people. Laws should protect people, not kill people. If you use too much, you will inevitably hurt things. Since the war, the people were separated from each other at first, but now they have joined our dynasty, only to be appeased. If there are mistakes in it, it is not all usage.

Of course, "governing the country lightly" does not mean that there is no heavy code. In fact, in the early years of Hongwu, the phenomenon of heavy punishment existed at the same time when light punishment was mostly used. Among them, some have to be repeated; Some have not been examined in detail; Some are artificially created unjust, false and wrong cases. Especially after the contradictions among high-level decision-making groups intensified, heavy codes were used more. Zhu Yuanzhang also made no secret of using heavy punishment, and when using heavy punishment, he repeatedly explained the reasons for using heavy punishment and how to use it correctly according to the changes in the situation. After twenty-six years of Hongwu (1393), with

High-level internal struggles have come to an end temporarily, and some achievements have been made in severely punishing corrupt officials. Ming Taizu's legal thought has also undergone important changes. Zhu Yuanzhang thought: the country is stable, the people are convinced, the adulterer obeys because of fear, the traitor is punished, the number of corrupt officials is reduced, and the time of severe punishment can be over. Since then, the punishment has been from heavy to light. In the middle of Hongwu, the punishment changed from light to heavy, and then from heavy to light because of the current situation.

legal ground

Daming Law is divided into 30 volumes and 460 articles. It is divided into seven chapters: name regulation law (general rules), official law (mostly administrative norms), household law (mostly civil law), ritual law (laws related to sacrifices and ceremonies), military law (laws related to national security and social security), criminal law (core part) and industrial law (laws related to architecture and river defense).