Great Qing Legal Code
Encyclopedia
The Great Qing Legal Code (Great Ching Legal Code) or Qing Code (Ching Code) ' onMouseout='HidePop("717")' href="/topics/Manchu_language">Manchu
: Daicing gurun-i fafun-i bithe kooli) was the legal code
of Qing (Ching) dynasty
(1644–1912). The code was based on the Ming
legal system, which was kept largely intact. Compared to the Ming code which had no more than several hundred statutes and sub-statutes, the Qing code contained 1,907 statutes from over 30 times of revisions between 1644 and 1912.
The Qing code was the last legal code of imperial
China
. By the end of Qing dynasty, it was the only legal code enforced in China for nearly 270 years. Even with the fall of imperial Qing in 1912, the Confucian philosophy
of social control enshrined in the Qing code remain influential in the German-based system of the Republic of China
, and later, the Soviet
-based system of the People's Republic of China
.
was largely in place by Qing dynasty. The process of amalgamation of Confucian views and law codes was considered complete by the Tang Code
of CE 624. The code was regarded as a model of precision and clarity in terms of drafting and structure. Confucianism
in revised form (Neo-Confucianism
) continued to be the state orthodoxy under the Song
, Ming
and Qing
Dynasty. Throughout the centuries the Confucian foundations of the Tang Code were retained with even some aspects strengthened.
During the Qing dynasty, criminal justice was based on an extremely detailed criminal code. One element of the traditional Chinese criminal justice system is the notion that criminal law has a moral purpose, one of which is to get the convicted to repent and see the error of his ways. In the traditional Chinese legal system, a person could not be convicted of a crime unless he has confessed. This often led to the use of torture
, in order to extract the necessary confession. These elements still influence modern Chinese views toward law. All death sentences
were reported to the capital and required the personal approval of the emperor.
There was no civil code
separate from the criminal code
, which led to the now discredited belief that traditional Chinese law had no civil law. More recent studies have demonstrated that most of the magistrates' legal work was in civil disputes, and that there was an elaborate system of civil law
which used the criminal code to establish torts.
The Qing Code was in form exclusively a criminal code. Its statutes throughout stated as prohibitions and restrictions, and the violation of which was subjected to a range of punishments by a legalist
state. In practice, however, large sections of the code and its sub-statutes dealt with matters that would properly be characterised as civil law. The populace made extensive use (perhaps a third of all cases) of the local magistrate courts to bring suits or threaten to sue on a whole range of civil disputes, characterized as "minor matters" in the Qing Code. Moreover, in practice, magistrates frequently tempered the application of the code by taking prevalent local custom into account in their decisions. Filed complaints were often settled among the parties before they received a formal court hearing, sometimes under the influence of probable action by the court.
Private ownership of firearms in China was first banned by the Qing dynasty
.
Slavery in China
was regulated by the Qing legal code. Han Chinese
who committed crimes such as those dealing with opium became slaves to Turkestani begs, this practice was administered by Qing law. Chinese muslim
(Tungans) Sufis who were charged with practicing xiejiao (heterodox religion), were punished by exile to Xinjiang and being sold as a slave other muslims, such as the Sufi begs
.
. The translation, known as Fundamental Laws of China was completed by Sir George Thomas Staunton
in 1810. It was the first time the Qing code had been translated into a European language. The French translation was published in 1812.
The translation played an important role for Europeans to gain insights into the Chinese legal system. Due to the increase competitiveness among European powers in the 18th century, understanding of the Chinese legal foundation was crucial to gain profitable trading access into China. Even though the Qing Code was in form exclusively a criminal code, the British
was able to use it to their advantage to resolve trading obstacles and resistance, such as those resulted in the Opium Wars
. It was this fundamental understanding of the Chinese legal code that made it possible for Britain to devise a number of unequal treaties
geared to their advantage.
In the late Qing dynasty there was a concerted effort to establish legal codes based on Europe
an models. Because of the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War
and because Japan
was used as the model for political and legal reform, the adopted law code were modelled closely after that of Germany
.
adopted the existing German-based legal codes, but these codes were not immediately put into practice. Following the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in 1912, China came under the control of rival warlords and had no government strong enough to establish a legal code to replace the Qing code. Finally in 1927, Chiang Kai-shek
's Kuomintang
government attempted to develop Western-style legal and penal systems. Few of the KMT codes, however, were implemented nationwide. Although government leaders were striving for a Western-inspired system of codified law, the traditional Chinese preference for collective social sanctions over impersonal legalism hindered constitutional and legal development. The spirit of the new laws never penetrated to the grass-roots level or provided hoped-for stability. Ideally, individuals were to be equal before the law, but this premise proved to be more rhetorical than substantive.
Law in the Republic of China on Taiwan
is based on the German-based legal system carried to Taiwan by the Kuomintang. The influence of the Qing Code manifests itself in the form of an exceptionally detailed penal code, with a large number of offences punishable by death
. For example, in addition to the offence of piracy
, there are also piracy causing grievous bodily harm (punishable by death or life imprisonment pursuant to Section 3 of Article 333 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China (中華民國刑法)), as well as piracy causing death and piracy with arson, rape, kidnapping or murder (both entail mandatory death penalty pursuant to Section 3 of Article 333 and Article 334 of the Criminal Code). One legacy from those bygone era is the offence of murder of a family member (e.g. patricide
and matricide
). The offense entails life imprisonment or death pursuant to Section 1 of Article 272 of the Criminal Code, even for minors under 18 years old until abolition on July 1, 2006 of Section 2 of Article 63 of the Criminal Code that would permit life imprisonment or death penalty against minors committing crimes under Section 1 of Article 272.
, while the legal system was, and to some extent still is, based on socialist law
, it incorporates certain aspects of the Qing Code, most notably the notion that offenders should be shamed into repentance - hence the now notorious practice of parading condemned criminals in public - and the idea of using law as the means of controlling social mores.
in 1841, the Great Qing Legal Code remained in force for the local Chinese population. Until the end of the 19th Century, Chinese offenders were still executed by decapitation
, whereas the British would be put to death by hanging
. Even deep into the 20th Century and well after the fall of the Qing dynasty in China, Chinese men in Hong Kong could still practice polygamy
by virtue of the Qing Code—a situation that was ended only with the passing of the Marriage Act of 1971. Therefore the Great Qing Legal Code was actually enforced in some form for a total of 327 years, from 1644 to 1971.
Because there are still existing alive Concubinage
married before the Marriage Act of 1971, and their rights (of inheritance, and the inheritance rights of their sons and daughters) are respected by Hong Kong law system (even after 1997 handover
), the Great Qing Legal Code is still being referenced when handling the legal cases with history dated back before 1971.
Manchu language
Manchu is a Tungusic endangered language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
: Daicing gurun-i fafun-i bithe kooli) was the legal code
Legal code
A legal code is a body of law written by a governmental body, such as a U.S. state, a Canadian Province or German Bundesland or a municipality...
of Qing (Ching) dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
(1644–1912). The code was based on the Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
legal system, which was kept largely intact. Compared to the Ming code which had no more than several hundred statutes and sub-statutes, the Qing code contained 1,907 statutes from over 30 times of revisions between 1644 and 1912.
The Qing code was the last legal code of imperial
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. By the end of Qing dynasty, it was the only legal code enforced in China for nearly 270 years. Even with the fall of imperial Qing in 1912, the Confucian philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
of social control enshrined in the Qing code remain influential in the German-based system of the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
, and later, the Soviet
Soviet law
The Law of the Soviet Union—also known as Socialist Law—was the law developed in the Soviet Union following the October Revolution of 1917...
-based system of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
Nature of the Code
The traditional Chinese lawTraditional Chinese law
Traditional Chinese law refers to the laws, regulations and rules used in China up to 1911, when the last imperial dynasty fell. It has undergone continuous development since at least the 11th century BC...
was largely in place by Qing dynasty. The process of amalgamation of Confucian views and law codes was considered complete by the Tang Code
Tang Code
The Tang Code was a penal code that was established and used during the Tang Dynasty in China. Supplemented by civil statutes and regulations, it became the basis for later dynastic codes not only in China but elsewhere in East Asia. The Code synthesised Legalist and Confucian interpretations of...
of CE 624. The code was regarded as a model of precision and clarity in terms of drafting and structure. Confucianism
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
in revised form (Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism is an ethical and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty....
) continued to be the state orthodoxy under the Song
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
, Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
and Qing
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
Dynasty. Throughout the centuries the Confucian foundations of the Tang Code were retained with even some aspects strengthened.
During the Qing dynasty, criminal justice was based on an extremely detailed criminal code. One element of the traditional Chinese criminal justice system is the notion that criminal law has a moral purpose, one of which is to get the convicted to repent and see the error of his ways. In the traditional Chinese legal system, a person could not be convicted of a crime unless he has confessed. This often led to the use of torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, in order to extract the necessary confession. These elements still influence modern Chinese views toward law. All death sentences
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
were reported to the capital and required the personal approval of the emperor.
There was no civil code
Civil code
A civil code is a systematic collection of laws designed to comprehensively deal with the core areas of private law. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure...
separate from the criminal code
Criminal Code
A criminal code is a document which compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law...
, which led to the now discredited belief that traditional Chinese law had no civil law. More recent studies have demonstrated that most of the magistrates' legal work was in civil disputes, and that there was an elaborate system of civil law
Civil law (legal system)
Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...
which used the criminal code to establish torts.
The Qing Code was in form exclusively a criminal code. Its statutes throughout stated as prohibitions and restrictions, and the violation of which was subjected to a range of punishments by a legalist
Legalism (Chinese philosophy)
In Chinese history, Legalism was one of the main philosophic currents during the Warring States Period, although the term itself was invented in the Han Dynasty and thus does not refer to an organized 'school' of thought....
state. In practice, however, large sections of the code and its sub-statutes dealt with matters that would properly be characterised as civil law. The populace made extensive use (perhaps a third of all cases) of the local magistrate courts to bring suits or threaten to sue on a whole range of civil disputes, characterized as "minor matters" in the Qing Code. Moreover, in practice, magistrates frequently tempered the application of the code by taking prevalent local custom into account in their decisions. Filed complaints were often settled among the parties before they received a formal court hearing, sometimes under the influence of probable action by the court.
Private ownership of firearms in China was first banned by the Qing dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
.
Slavery in China
Slavery in China
Slavery in China has taken various forms throughout history. Never as absolute as its Muslim or European models, Chinese slavery still often viewed its objects as "half-man, half-thing"...
was regulated by the Qing legal code. Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
who committed crimes such as those dealing with opium became slaves to Turkestani begs, this practice was administered by Qing law. Chinese muslim
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
(Tungans) Sufis who were charged with practicing xiejiao (heterodox religion), were punished by exile to Xinjiang and being sold as a slave other muslims, such as the Sufi begs
Baig
- History & Origins:The name Baig originates from a Turkic clan called Barlas . They played a pivotal role in Turko-Persian empires in Central Asia, Middle East and South Asia....
.
Qing Code and the West
The Great Qing Legal Code was the first written Chinese work directly translated into EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. The translation, known as Fundamental Laws of China was completed by Sir George Thomas Staunton
George Thomas Staunton
Sir George Thomas Staunton, 2nd Baronet was an English traveller and Orientalist.-Early life:Born at Milford House near Salisbury, he was the son of Sir George Leonard Staunton , first baronet, diplomatist and Orientalist...
in 1810. It was the first time the Qing code had been translated into a European language. The French translation was published in 1812.
The translation played an important role for Europeans to gain insights into the Chinese legal system. Due to the increase competitiveness among European powers in the 18th century, understanding of the Chinese legal foundation was crucial to gain profitable trading access into China. Even though the Qing Code was in form exclusively a criminal code, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
was able to use it to their advantage to resolve trading obstacles and resistance, such as those resulted in the Opium Wars
Opium Wars
The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, divided into the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860, were the climax of disputes over trade and diplomatic relations between China under the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire...
. It was this fundamental understanding of the Chinese legal code that made it possible for Britain to devise a number of unequal treaties
Unequal Treaties
“Unequal treaty” is a term used in specific reference to a number of treaties imposed by Western powers, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, on Qing Dynasty China and late Tokugawa Japan...
geared to their advantage.
In the late Qing dynasty there was a concerted effort to establish legal codes based on Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an models. Because of the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
and because Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
was used as the model for political and legal reform, the adopted law code were modelled closely after that of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
The end of the Qing Code and its remaining influence
In 1912 the collapse of Qing dynasty ended 268 years of its imperial rule over China and 2000 years of imperial history came to an end. The Qing court was replaced by the Republic of China government. As a result, the Qing code became defunct de jure.Republic of China
The newly founded Republic of ChinaRepublic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
adopted the existing German-based legal codes, but these codes were not immediately put into practice. Following the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in 1912, China came under the control of rival warlords and had no government strong enough to establish a legal code to replace the Qing code. Finally in 1927, Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
's Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
government attempted to develop Western-style legal and penal systems. Few of the KMT codes, however, were implemented nationwide. Although government leaders were striving for a Western-inspired system of codified law, the traditional Chinese preference for collective social sanctions over impersonal legalism hindered constitutional and legal development. The spirit of the new laws never penetrated to the grass-roots level or provided hoped-for stability. Ideally, individuals were to be equal before the law, but this premise proved to be more rhetorical than substantive.
Law in the Republic of China on Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
is based on the German-based legal system carried to Taiwan by the Kuomintang. The influence of the Qing Code manifests itself in the form of an exceptionally detailed penal code, with a large number of offences punishable by death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. For example, in addition to the offence of piracy
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
, there are also piracy causing grievous bodily harm (punishable by death or life imprisonment pursuant to Section 3 of Article 333 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China (中華民國刑法)), as well as piracy causing death and piracy with arson, rape, kidnapping or murder (both entail mandatory death penalty pursuant to Section 3 of Article 333 and Article 334 of the Criminal Code). One legacy from those bygone era is the offence of murder of a family member (e.g. patricide
Patricide
Patricide is the act of killing one's father, or a person who kills his or her father. The word patricide derives from the Latin word pater and the Latin suffix -cida...
and matricide
Matricide
Matricide is the act of killing one's mother. As for any type of killing, motives can vary significantly.- Known or suspected matricides :* Amastris, queen of Heraclea, was drowned by her two sons in 284 BC....
). The offense entails life imprisonment or death pursuant to Section 1 of Article 272 of the Criminal Code, even for minors under 18 years old until abolition on July 1, 2006 of Section 2 of Article 63 of the Criminal Code that would permit life imprisonment or death penalty against minors committing crimes under Section 1 of Article 272.
People's Republic of China
In the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, while the legal system was, and to some extent still is, based on socialist law
Socialist law
Socialist law denotes a general type of legal system which has been used in communist and formerly communist states. It is based on the civil law system, with major modifications and additions from Marxist-Leninist ideology. There is controversy as to whether socialist law ever constituted a...
, it incorporates certain aspects of the Qing Code, most notably the notion that offenders should be shamed into repentance - hence the now notorious practice of parading condemned criminals in public - and the idea of using law as the means of controlling social mores.
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, after the colonization by the British EmpireBritish Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
in 1841, the Great Qing Legal Code remained in force for the local Chinese population. Until the end of the 19th Century, Chinese offenders were still executed by decapitation
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
, whereas the British would be put to death by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
. Even deep into the 20th Century and well after the fall of the Qing dynasty in China, Chinese men in Hong Kong could still practice polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
by virtue of the Qing Code—a situation that was ended only with the passing of the Marriage Act of 1971. Therefore the Great Qing Legal Code was actually enforced in some form for a total of 327 years, from 1644 to 1971.
Because there are still existing alive Concubinage
Concubinage
Concubinage is the state of a woman or man in an ongoing, usually matrimonially oriented, relationship with somebody to whom they cannot be married, often because of a difference in social status or economic condition.-Concubinage:...
married before the Marriage Act of 1971, and their rights (of inheritance, and the inheritance rights of their sons and daughters) are respected by Hong Kong law system (even after 1997 handover
Handover
In cellular telecommunications, the term handover or handoff refers to the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another...
), the Great Qing Legal Code is still being referenced when handling the legal cases with history dated back before 1971.
Further reading
- Bodde, Derk, and Clarence Morris, eds. Law in Imperial China: Exemplified by 190 Ch'ing Dynasty Cases. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967.
- Jones, William C. The Great Qing Code. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
See also
- Qing dynastyQing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
- Traditional Chinese lawTraditional Chinese lawTraditional Chinese law refers to the laws, regulations and rules used in China up to 1911, when the last imperial dynasty fell. It has undergone continuous development since at least the 11th century BC...
- Chinese lawChinese lawChinese law is one of the oldest legal traditions in the world. In the 20th and 21st century, law in China has been a complex mix of traditional Chinese approaches and Western influences....
- Law of the People's Republic of ChinaLaw of the People's Republic of ChinaLaw of the People's Republic of China is the legal regime of the People's Republic of China, with the separate legal traditions and systems of Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau....
- Ten AbominationsTen AbominationsThe Ten Abominations were a list of offenses under traditional Chinese law which were regarded as the most abhorrent, and which threatened the well-being of civilized society. They are listed below. The first three were capital offences:...
- ImperialismImperialismImperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
External links
- The Qing Code, Wallace Johnson, ed.