Were Chinese rulers above the law? Toward a theory of the rule of law in China from early times to 1949 CE

Stanford Journal of International Law

Volumn 44, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 101-146

  Fang, Qiang ^a   Des Forges, Roger ^b  

^a MISSOURI SOUTHERN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 49249112162     PISSN: 07315082     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (263)

1. RONALD A. CASS, THE RULE OF LAW IN AMERICA 1-2 (2001);
2. ALBERT HUNG-YEE CHEN, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 11 (4th ed. 2002);
3. Dean Spader, Rule of Law v. Rule of Man: The Search for the Golden Zigzag between Conflicting Fundamental Values, 12 J. CRIM. JUST. 379-94 (1984);
4. Wen Zhengbang, Lun fazhi wenming: hunxiao fazhi yu fazhi de gainian [The Culture of the Rule of Law: Confounding the Conceptions of the Rule of Law and that of the Rule by Law], 2 XIANDAI FAXUE [MODERN JURISPRUDENCE] (1998);
5. Liang Zhiping, Explicating 'Law': A Comparative Perspective of Chinese and Western Legal Culture, 3 J. CHINESE L., 55, 81 (1989).
6. RALPH FOLSOM, JOHN H. MINAN & LEE ANN OTTO, LAW AND POLITICS IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 12 (1992);
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8. XIN REN, TRADITION OF THE LAW AND LAW OF THE TRADITION: LAW, STATE, AND SOCIAL CONTROL IN CHINA 10 (1997);
9. Yuan Yuan Shen, Conceptions and Receptions of Legality: Understanding the Complexity of Law Reform in Modern China, in 14 THE LIMITS OF THE RULE OF LAW IN CHINA 20-44 (Karen Turner et al. eds., 2000) [hereinafter LIMITS].
10. PHILIP B. CHEN, LAW AND JUSTICE: THE LEGAL SYSTEM IN CHINA 2400 B.C. TO 1960 A.D., at 41-43 (1973);
11. A.V. DICEY, INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE LAW OF THE CONSTITUTION 183, 189, 207 (9th ed., 1956) (1920);
12. GUO LUOJI, GONGCHANDANG WEIFA AN JISHI [A TRUE RECORD OF A CASE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY'S VIOLATION OF THE LAW] 205 (1997);
13. Karen Turner, Sage Kings and Laws in the Chinese and Greek Traditions, in HERITAGE OF CHINA: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON CHINESE CIVILIZATION 96, 108-11 (Paul S. Ropp ed., 1990);
14. Zhuo Zeyuan, Fazhi de guodu: tan fazhiguojia de jiben tezheng [The Rule of Law State: Discussing the Characteristics of the Rule of Law State], Mar. 6 JIANCHA RIBAO [INSPECTION DAILY] (2000).
15. ELLIS SANDOZ, A GOVERNMENT OF LAWS: POLITICAL THEORY, RELIGION, AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING 229-34 (1990);
16. MAX WEBER, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 311-38 (Guenther Roth & Claus Wittich eds., 1978) (1968).
17. Shen, supra note 2, at 36-37.
18. For the origins and tenacity of this view, see William Alford, Law, Law, What Law? Why Western Scholars of China Have Not Had More to Say about Its Law, in LIMITS, supra note 2, at 46-57.
19. See generally ZHENGYUAN FU, CHINA'S LEGALISTS: THE EARLIEST TOTALITARIANS AND THEIR ART OF RULING (1996) (explaining that the Legalists advocated only the rule by law);
20. YONGPIN LIU, ORIGINS OF CHINESE LAW: PENAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW IN ITS EARLY DEVELOPMENT 182 (1998);
21. STANLEY LUBMAN, BIRD IN A CAGE: LEGAL REFORM IN CHINA AFTER MAO 24-27 (2000);
22. RANDALL PEERENBOOM, CHINA'S LONG MARCH TOWARD RULE OF LAW 33 (2002);
23. Xu Xianming, Xie Hui, Fazhi zhizhi yu fazhi zhizhi [The Government of the Rule of Law and the System of the Rule of Law] 10 FAXUE [JURISPRUDENCE] 16-21 (1998).
24. See generally YU-NING LI, THE FIRST EMPEROR OF CHINA (1975) (explaining the influence of Legalism on Qingshihuang).
25. See generally T' UNG-TSU CHU, LAW AND SOCIETY IN TRADITIONAL CHINA (1979) (explaining the Confucianization of the Chinese law in the course of Chinese history); CHEN, supra note 3, at 35.
26. A. F. P. Hulsewé, Ch'in and Han Law, in 1 THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHINA: THE CH'IN AND HAN EMPIRES, 221 B.C.-220 A.D., at 524-29 (Denis Twitchett & Michael Loewe eds., 1986) [hereinafter 1 CAMBRIDGE]; GUO, supra note 3, at 205; LIU, supra note 7, at 2-3; PEERENBOOM, supra note 7, at 36-42;
27. ZHONGGUO FAZHISHI [A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE LEGAL SYSTEM] 3 (Ye Xiaoxin ed., 2002).
28. GEOFFREY MACCORMACK, THE SPIRIT OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE LAW 10, 36, 63, 97, 109-10 (1996).
29. See PHILIP C.C. HUANG, CODE, CUSTOM, AND LEGAL PRACTICE IN CHINA: THE QING AND THE REPUBLICAN COMPARED 9 (2001);
30. ZHONGGUO FAZHISHI [A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE LEGAL SYSTEM] 15 (Zeng Xianyi ed., 2000);
31. Yao Jianzong, Fazhi dejingshen yiyun [The Spiritual Meaning of the Rule of Law] 2 J. OF JILIN UNIVERSITY SOCIAL SCIENCE 1-12 (1997);
32. Zhuo Zeyuan, Zhongguo fazhi de guoqu he weilai [The Past and Future of the Rule of Law in China] 8 FAXUE [JURISPRUDENCE] 5-8 (1997). The implications of this paradigm, as well as those of our own, for the Chinese political system after 1949 will be explored in another context.
33. This theory has been outlined in ROGER V. DES FORGES, CULTURAL CENTRALITY AND POLITICAL CHANGE IN CHINESE HISTORY: NORTHERN HENAN IN THE FALL IN THE MING 317-320 (2003). In this article, we test this theory as a possible explanation for the appearance and recurrence of various forms of the rule of law in China before 1949. The period after 1949 will be addressed in a separate publication.
34. JAMES LEGGE, THE CHINESE CLASSICS, III, THE SHOO KING 381-98, 588-611 (1871); LIU, supra note 7, at 120-24; MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 2, 15, 73-74, 146.
35. For general accounts, see HERRLEE GLESSNER CREEL, 1 THE ORIGINS OF STATECRAFT IN CHINA: THE WESTERN CHOU EMPIRE 450 (1970);
36. see generally THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHINA: FROM ORIGINS OF CIVILIZATION TO 221 B.C. 323 (Michael Loewe & Edward L. Shaughnessy eds., 1999) [hereinafter ORIGINS].
37. Herrlee Glessner Creel, Legal Institutions and Procedures During the Chou Dynasty, in ESSAYS ON CHINA'S LEGAL TRADITION 41 (Jerome Alan Cohen et al. eds., 1980) [hereinafter TRADITION];
38. Cho-yun Hsü, The Spring and Autumn Period, in ORIGINS, supra note 14, at 545-86 ("The conservatives argued that if commoners knew the legal statutes, they would no longer obey state authority....");
39. see also Wejen Chang, Foreword, in LIMITS, supra note 2, at vii-xii;
40. Jack Dull, Epilogue: The Deep Roots of Resistance to Law Codes and Lawyers in China, in LIMITS, supra note 2, at 325-29.
41. For Plato's belief in the unlimited authority of a philosopher ruler (individual or collective), see PLATO, THE REPUBLIC (Desmond Lee trans., Penguin Books 2003).
42. LIU, supra note 7, at 1-2.
43. REN, supra note 2, at 20; R. Kent Guy, Rule of Man and Rule of Law in China: Punishing Provincial Governors in the Qing, in LIMITS, supra note 2, at 88-92;
44. see Kidder Smith, Sima Tan and the Invention of Daoism, 'Legalism,' et cetera, 62 J. ASIAN STUD. 129, 138-39 (1993).
45. GONGSUN YANG, THE BOOK OF LORD SHANG 260 (J.J.L. Duyvendak trans., Univ. of Chicago Press 1963).
46. CHEN QIQIU, HANFEIZI XINJIAOZHU [A NEW ANNOTATION OF HAN FEIZI] 107 (2000);
47. W. K. LIAO, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF HAN FEI TZU: A CLASSIC OF CHINESE POLITICAL SCIENCE 43, 45, 270 (1959).
48. QIQIU, supra note 19, at 542.
49. ARISTOTLE, POLITICS 58-59 (Richard Robinson trans., Claredon Press 1995);
50. DONALD MUNRO, THE CONCEPT OF MAN IN EARLY CHINA 14-15 (1969); Guy, supra note 17, at 94, 96-100, 103;
51. Karen Turner, Rule of Law Ideals in Early China?, 6 J. CHINESE L. 18 (1992).
52. For a recent comparison of Aristotelian and Confucian ethics, see JIYUAN YU, THE ETHICS OF CONFUCIUS AND ARISTOTLE: MIRRORS OF VIRTUES (2007).
53. MAWANGDUI HANMU BOSHU [THE SILK BOOK OF MAWANGDUI IN THE HAN TOMB] 1 (1976).
54. RANDAL PEERENBOOM, LAW AND MORALITY IN ANCIENT CHINA: THE SILK MANUSCRIPT OF CHINA 34-36 (1993); Turner, supra note 21, at 9-10.
55. See generally DERK BODDE & CLARENCE MORRIS, LAW IN IMPERIAL CHINA, EXEMPLIFIED BY 190 CH'ING DYNASTY CASES (1967);
56. LI XUEQIN, EASTERN ZHOU AND QIN CIVILIZATIONS (K.C. Chang trans., 1985) (explaining the social development from the Zhou to the Qin dynasties through archeological artifacts).
57. REN, supra note 2, at 19.
58. See A. F. P. HULSEWE, REMNANTS OF CH'IN LAW (1985);
59. Yuan Yuan Shen, Conceptions and Receptions of Legality: Understanding the Complexity of Law Reform in Modern China, in LIMITS, supra note 2;
60. Karen Turner, War, Punishment, and The Law of Nature in Early Chinese Concepts of The State, 53 HARV. J. ASIATIC STUD. 285, 285-324 (1993);
61. Robin D. S. Yates & C. D. McLeod Katrina, Forms of Ch'in Law: An Annotated Translation of the Feng-chen shih, 41 HARV. J. ASIATIC STUD. 111, 111-63 (1981).
62. In fact, of course, differences in status exist. See Romeyn Taylor, Chinese Hierarchy in Comparative Perspective, 48 J. ASIAN STUD. 490-511 (1989).
63. See CHEN, supra note 19, at 1151; CREEL, supra note 14, at 43, 1005; LIU, supra note 7, at ch. 7; 2 JOSEPH NEEDHAM, SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION IN CHINA: HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 528 (1975) (1956);
64. Hans Bielenstein, Wang Mang, the Restoration of the Han dynasty, and Later Han, in 1 CAMBRIDGE 223, 239; Guy, supra note 17, at 107.
65. SIMA GUANG, ZIZHI TONGJIAN [COMPREHENSIVE MIRROR FOR AID IN GOVERNMENT] 747 (1956). This note relies heavily on Sima Guang's chronological history compiled in the Northern Song (eleventh century CE) for cases illustrating the rule of law during the millennium and a half from the fifth century BCE to the tenth century CE. In his famous bureaucratic battle with the reformist official Wang Anshi, Sima Guang emphasized the important role of monarchs in history, but he also believed that the monarch's authority was - and should be - limited.
66. For a review of some of the literature in Chinese and English on Sima's approach to history, see PETER K. BOL, THIS CULTURE OF OURS: INTELLECTUAL TRANSITION IN T'ANG AND SUNG CHINA 233-246 (1992);
67. ON-CHO & Q. EDWARD WANG, MIRRORING THE PAST: THE WRITING AND USE OF HISTORY IN IMPERIAL CHINA 147-51 (2005).
68. SIMA, supra note 29, at 1523.
69. Id. at 451. In this case, as in many others cited by Sima Guang, historians cannot be sure that the record reflects precisely what happened, especially when it comes to dialogues supposedly conducted centuries before Sima compiled his account. However, it is reasonable to assume that in each case Sima had some basis for his narrative and it was sufficient for him to believe that there was a solid historical foundation for his theory that both monarchs and their minions believed that the ruler's authority was not absolute. Further research into the sources and contexts of Sima's anecdotes may help to confirm or disprove this theory.
70. Id. at 532.
71. Id. For other interpretations of this incident, see Karen G. Turner, Introduction: The Problem of Paradigms, in LIMITS, supra note 2, at 3, 10.
72. SIMA, supra note 29, at 573.
73. Id. at 1263, 1389.
74. Id. at 746.
75. Id.
76. Id. at 617.
77. DONG ZHONGSHU, CHUNQIU FANLU [THE LUXURIANT DEWS OF SPRING AND AUTUMN ANNALS] 496 (1979).
78. SIMA, supra note 29, at 1791.
79. Id. at 1642.
80. Id. at 6028; ZHU XI, SISHU ZHANGJU JIZHU [ANNOTATION OF FOUR BOOKS] 298 (1998).
81. CREEL, supra note 14, at 37; LIU, supra note 7, at 183-84.
82. SIMA, supra note 29, at 3212.
83. Id.
84. Id. at 4697.
85. Id. at 4911.
86. ZENG, supra note 12, at 158-59.
87. THE GREAT QING CODE 34-36 (William C. Jones et al. trans., Clarendon Press 1994) [hereinafter QING CODE]; MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 44-45, 51, 55-57; REN, supra note 2, at 37;
88. ZHANGSUN WUJI, 2 THE TANG CODE, SPECIFIC ARTICLES 17 (Wallace Johnson trans., 1979);
89. 1 THE T'ANG CODE, GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE T'ANG CODE 61-83 (Wallace Johnson trans., Princeton University Press 1997) [hereinafter 1 T'ANG CODE];
90. Wallace Johnson, Introduction, in 1 T'ANG CODE, supra.
91. MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 121; see generally FRANK DIKÖTTER, CRIME, PUNISHMENT, AND THE PRISON IN MODERN CHINA 107-12, 253, 257-58, 289, 352-53 (2002) (discussing Buddhist, Christian, Daoist and other religious instruction in early 20th-century Chinese prisons). Scholars at the University at Buffalo Law School are currently engaged in a major project studying the relationship between Buddhism and the law. See The Law and Buddhism Project, http://www.law.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/lawandbuddhism (last visited Jan. 27, 2008).
92. SIMA, supra note 29, at 5446; Arthur F. Wright, The Sui Dynasty (581-617), in 3 THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHINA: SUI AND T'ANG CHINA 589-906 63, 70 (Denis Twitchett ed., 1979) [hereinafter 3 CAMBRIDGE].
93. TANG CHENGYE, SUI WENDI ZHENGZHI SHIGONG ZHI YANJIU [A STUDY OF SUI WENDI'S POLITICAL ACTIVITIES] 69 (1968).
94. See Jonathan K. Ocko, I'll Take It All the Way to Beijing: Capital Appeals in the Qing, 47 J. ASIAN STUD. 291-315 (1988).
95. Wright, supra note 51, at 12, 103-05.
96. Alford, supra note 6, at 48; see generally WILLIAM SHAW, LEGAL NORMS IN A CONFUCIAN STATE (1981) (explaining the role of Confucian law in Yi Korea (1398-1910));
97. TA VAN TAN, THE LE CODE: LAW IN TRADITIONAL VIETNAM: A COMPARATIVE SINO-VIETNAMESE LEGAL STUDY WITH HISTORICAL JURIDICAL ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS (1987) (explaining the approach to legal institutions in the period of Le Dynaty (1428-1788) that was different from that in China).
98. Wright, supra note 51, at 131.
99. Howard J. Wechsler, The Founding of the T'ang dynasty: Kao-tsu (reign 618-26), in 3 CAMBRIDGE, supra note 45, at 178, 195;
100. Howard J. Wechsler, T'ai-tsung (reign 626-49) the Consolidator, in 3 CAMBRIDGE, supra, at 206-07, 274.
101. HOWARD WECHSLER, MIRROR TO THE SON OF HEAVEN: WEI CHENG AT THE COURT T'ANG T'AI TSUNG 24 (Yale University Press, 1974).
102. Denis Twitchett, How to Be an Emperor: T'ang T'ai-tsung's Vision of His Role, in 9 ASIA MAJOR 1-3, 92-97 (3rd ed., 1996).
103. SIMA, supra note 29, at 6029.
104. Id.
105. Id. at 6091.
106. Id. at 6182.
107. Id. at 6523.
108. MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 147; see Richard W. L. Guisso, The Reigns of the Empress Wu, Chung-tsung and Jui-tsung (684-712), in 3 CAMBRIDGE, supra note 45, at 297-98.
109. Guisso, supra note 64, at 320-21.
110. Id.
111. SIMA, supra note 29, at 6801.
112. Id. at 735.
113. Id.
114. MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 13, 49; see Brian E. McKnight, T'ang Law and Later Law: The Roots of Continuity, 115 J. AM. ORIENTAL SOCIETY 410-20 (1995).
115. CHARLES O. HUCKER, THE CENSORIAL SYSTEM OF MING CHINA 2, 35 (1966).
116. SIMA, supra note 29, at 7686.
117. Id. at 8027.
118. Id. at 8028.
119. Id. at 8059.
120. Id. at 8064.
121. Id.
122. Ichisada Miyazaki, The Administration of Justice During the Sung Dynasty, in TRADITION, supra note 15, at 67.
123. PAUL HENG-CHAO CH'EN, CHINESE LEGAL TRADITION UNDER THE MONGOLS: THE CODE OF 1291 AS RECONSTRUCTED 42 (1979);
124. Denis Twitchett & Klaus-Peter Tietze, The Liao, in 6 THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHINA: ALIEN REGIMES AND BORDER STATES 907-1368 94 (Herbert Franke & Denis Twitchett eds., 1994) [hereinafter 6 CAMBRIDGE].
125. Twichett & Tietze, supra note 79, at 116, 127, 131, 137.
126. Ruth Dunnell, The Hsi Hsia, in 6 CAMBRIDGE, supra note 79, at 199-200.
127. LI TAO, XU ZIZHI TONGJIAN CHANGBIAN [LONG DRAFT OF THE CONTINUATION OF THE ZIZHI TONGJIAN] 11417 (1979-95); CH'EN, supra note 79, at 42, n.1
128. (citing Brian E. McKnight, Sung Justice: Death by Slicing, J. AMER. ORIENTAL SOCIETY 359-60 (1973)); Miyazaki, supra note 78, at 56-57, 67.
129. BI YUAN, XU ZIZHI TONGJIAN [THE CONTINUED COMPREHENSIVE MIRROR FOR AID IN GOVERNMENT] 1, 10 (1965). Bi Yuan (1730-1797) was a scholar-official of the high Qing period whose continuation of Sima Guang's history continued to focus on politics.
130. Id. at 14.5.
131. Id.
132. BRIAN E. MCKNIGHT, THE QUALITY OF MERCY: AMNESTIES AND TRADITIONAL CHINESE JUSTICE 84 (1981).
133. BRIAN E. MCKNIGHT, LAW AND ORDER IN SUNG CHINA 60 (1992); Miyazaki, supra note 78, at 69.
134. Id.
135. Miyazaki, supra note 78, at 58-59.
136. TUOTUO, SONGSHI [THE HISTORY OF THE SONG] 4962 (1977).
137. Miyazaki, supra note 78, at 58, 70.
138. SIMA, supra note 29, at 2503.
139. ALISON W. CONNER, True Confessions? Chinese Confessions Then and Now, in LIMITS, supra note 2, at 135.
140. See generally GEORGE A. HAYDEN, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN MEDIEVAL CHINESE DRAMA: THREE JUDGE PAO PLAYS (1978) (explaining that the famous Judge Bao tolerated long litigation); MCKNIGHT, supra note 75, at ch. 4; Miyazaki, supra note 78, at 57, 59-60, 61, 65-66, 69, 73 n.21.
141. BI, supra note 83, at 132.5.
142. Id. at 146.17.
143. Id.
144. TUOTUO, supra note 90, at 4994.
145. YONGLIN JIANG, Lun Zhonghua diguo falü de zongjiao tezheng - yi Mingchu falü wenhua wei li [The Religious Character of Chinese Imperial Law: The Example of Legal Culture at the Beginning of the Ming], in 3 MINGQING LUNCONG [A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS ON THE MING AND QING DYNASTIES] 57 (Zhu Chengru & Wang Tianyou eds., 2002).
146. See generally HOYT CLEVELAND TILMAN, CONFUCIAN DISCOURSE AND CHU HIS'S ASCENDANCY (1992)
147. and HOYT CLEVELAND TILMAN, UTILITARIAN CONFUCIANISM: CH'EN LIAN'S CHALLENGE TO CHU HIS (1982) for the rise of Confucian scholar Chu His in the Northern Song in the wake of Buddhist threats.
148. BI, supra note 83, at 150.19; SIMA, supra note 29, at 3212; TUOTUO, supra note 90, at 1020.
149. See MORRIS ROSSABI, KHUBILAI KHAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES 130-32 (1988).
150. CH'EN, supra note 79, at 3-18.
151. CH'EN, supra note 79, at 19-40.
152. Id. at 46.
153. BI, supra note 83, at 200.11, 201.18.
154. Id. at 202.7.
155. CH'EN, supra note 79, at ch. 3; Frederick W. Mote, Chinese Society Under Mongol Rule, 1215-1368, in 6 CAMBRIDGE, supra note 79, at 616, 631, 634.
156. JOHN W. DARDESS, CONFUCIANISM AND AUTOCRACY: PROFESSIONAL ELITES IN THE FOUNDING OF THE MING DYNASTY 2-3 (1983); Jiang, supra note 85, at 55-59;
157. see Ssu-yu Teng, Chu Yuan-chang, in DICTIONARY OF MING BIOGRAPHY, 1368-1644, at 381-92 (L. Carrington Goodrich & Chaoying Fang eds., 1976).
158. See generally WU HAN, ZHU YUANZHANGZHUAN [A BIOGRAPHY OF ZHU YUANZHANG] 1-115 (1948) (explaining the life experience and policies of Zhu Yuanzhang);
159. CHARLES HUCKER, THE MING DYNASTY: ITS ORIGINS AND EVOLVING INSTITUTIONS chs. 1-3 (1978) (explaining the political institution of the Ming);
160. Frederick W. Mote, The Rise of the Ming Dynasty, 1330-1367, in 7 THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHINA: THE MING DYNASTY 1368-1644, at 11-57 (Frederick W Mote & Twitchett Denis eds., 1988) [hereinafter 7 CAMBRIDGE] (explaining the formation of the Ming under Zhu Yuanzhang).
161. EDWARD FARMER, ZHU YUANZHANG AND EARLY MING LEGISLATION: THE REORDERING OF CHINESE SOCIETY FOLLOWING THE ERA OF MONGOL RULE 124-27 (1995).
162. Id.
163. Id.; Jiang, supra note 98, at 59-60; Teng, supra note 107, at 385; Edward Farmer, Social Order in Early China: Some Norms Codified in the Hung-wu Period, in LAW AND THE STATE LAW IN TRADITIONAL EAST ASIA: SIX STUDIES ON THE SOURCES OF EAST ASIAN LAW 1-36 (Brian E. McKnight ed., 1987) (explaining the adoption of the New-Confucianism in the norms at the reign of Taizu (1368-1398));
164. Dan Fenno Henderson, Chinese Influences on Eighteenth-Century Tokugawa Codes, in TRADITION, supra note 15, at 270-301;
165. John D. Langlois, Ming Law, in 8 THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHINA: THE MING DYNASTY 1368-1644, PART II 172-75, 181-82, 195-97, 201 (Denis Twitchett & Frederick W. Mote eds., 1998) [hereinafter 8 CAMBRIDGE] (explaining the draft of the Ming Code by Ming Taizu and the practices of the code).
166. Langlois, supra note 110, at 175.
167. Langlois, supra note 110, at 179-80; Teng, supra note 107, at 387, 389; see HUCKER, supra note 107, at ch. 4.
168. HUCKER, supra note 107, at 35. Accounts such as this smack of popular history that - like the official and private histories - should be treated with some skepticism. But the popular image of a ruler obsessed with the law seems accurate. Id.
169. Jiang, supra note 98, at 64; Langlois, supra note 110, at 186, 189; Teng, supra note 107, at 386, 391.
170. ZHANG TINGYU, MINGSHI [THE HISTORY OF THE MING DYNASTY] 2320 (1974). This account is notable because the Mingshi generally depreciated Ming justice to explain the overthrow of the dynasty. Langlois, supra note 108, at 187.
171. MCKNIGHT, supra note 86, at 101; see Langlois, supra note 110, at 180 (citing MING TAIZONG SHILU [VERITABLE RECORD OF MING TAIZONG] 28, 505-06 (1983).
172. HUCKER, supra note 71, at 232-34.
173. ZHANG, supra note 115, at 2320.
174. Id.
175. See generally RAY HUANG, 1587 A YEAR OF NO SIGNIFICANCE: THE MING DYNASTY IN DECLINE 19 (1982) (explaining that Ming Shenzong chose to strike against officials due to his failure of changing his heir-apparent).
176. See generally JOHN W. DARDESS, BLOOD AND HISTORY IN CHINA: THE DONGLING FACTION AND ITS REPRESSION 1620-1627 (2002) (explaining the factional struggle in the late Ming court).
177. See generally PAMELA CROSSLEY, A TRANSLUCENT MIRROR: HISTORY AND IDENTITY IN QING IMPERIAL IDEOLOGY (1999) (explaining the distinction of Manchu's identity);
178. MARK ELLIOTT, THE MANCHU WAY: THE EIGHT BANNERS AND ETHNIC IDENTITY IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA (2001) (explaining that Manchu successfully preserved its ethical identity by establishing banner garrisons);
179. EVELYN RAWSKI, THE LAST EMPERORS: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF QING IMPERIAL INSTITUTIONS (1998) (explaining that Manchu was carefully preserving its language and identity).
180. BODDE & MORRIS, supra note 22, at 52-75; CHEN, supra note 3, at 170; MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 1, 13, 49, 197; Alford, supra note 6, at 50; Zheng Qin, Pursuing Perfection: Formation of the Qing Code in 21 MODERN CHINA 310-44, 313-14, 320-22 (Guangyuan Zhou trans., 1995).
181. The Qing official commentary of 1695 was directly inspired by the Tang commentary of 653. Fu-mei Chang Chen, The Influence of Shen Chih-ch'i's Chi-chu Commentary Upon Ch'ing Judicial Decisions, in TRADITION, supra note 15, at 170-71; Zheng, supra note 123, at 320.
182. MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 6, 29-30, 160.
183. Id. at 109-10.
184. Id. at 35-36; Joanna Waley-Cohen, Collective Responsibility in Qing Criminal Law, in LIMITS, supra note 2, at 119-21.
185. MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 79, 94.
186. Id. at 64; see generally MATTHEW SOMMER, SEX, LAW, AND SOCIETY IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA (2000) (detailing evolution of rape law in Qing China).
187. MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 65.
188. Id. at 60, 65, 85.
189. CONNER, supra note 93, at 136.
190. Id. at 136-50.
191. QINGDAI QUANSHI [A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE QING] 44 (Wang Rongsheng et al. eds., 1995);
192. Alexander Woodside, The Ch'ien-lung Reign, in 9 THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHINA, PART ONE: THE CH'ING EMPIRE TO 1800, at 246-47 (Willard Peterson ed., 2002) [hereinafter 9 CAMBRIDGE];
193. Madeleine Zelin, The Yung-cheng Reign, in 9 CAMBRIDGE, supra, at 211; Zheng, supra note 123, at 33. For three quite different views on this issue, see MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at xiv, 20-22, 29, 162, 212; QING CODE, supra note 43, at 1-28; Wejen, supra note 15, at ix-xii.
194. MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 104, 149.
195. Id. at xiv, 18, 21-22, 100, 162, 174, 188, 212.
196. Id.; THOMAS STEPHENS, ORDER AND DISCIPLINE IN CHINA: THE SHANGHAI MIXED COURT 1911-27 (1992); Zheng, supra note 123, at 340-42;
197. see generally THOMAS METZGER, THE INTERNAL ORGANIZATION OF CH'ING BUREAUCRACY, LEGAL NORMATIVE, AND COMMUNICATION ASPECTS (1973) (explaining the effectiveness of the Qing bureaucracy and its moral obligation).
198. MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 75, 89, 106-07, 114, 115, 116, 141.
199. ZHANG JINFAN, QINCHAO FAZHISHI [A HISTORY OF THE QING LEGAL SYSTEM] 12, 18 (1998).
200. For an important exception, see Gertrude Li Roth, State Building Before 1644, in 9 CAMBRIDGE, supra note 134, at 36, 48.
201. ZHANG, supra note 139, at 27.
202. 1-6 DAQING SHENGZU REN HUANGDI SHILU [THE VERITABLE RECORDS OF QING SHIZONG] 5.2a (1968);
203. SUN WENLIANG & LI ZHITING, QING TAIZONG QUANZHUAN [A COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY OF QING TAIZONG] 266-67, 408-12 (1983); Zheng, supra note 123, at 314. Fulin also expressed interest in succeeding Ming precedents in administering the law.
204. Jerry Dennerline, The Shun-chih Reign, in 9 CAMBRIDGE, supra note 114, at 109.
205. For more on the early Qing interest in the Zhou-Tang model, see Roger Des Forges, Toward Another Tang or Zhou? Views from the Central Plain in the Shunzhi Reign, in TIME, TEMPORALITY, AND IMPERIAL TRANSITION: EAST ASIA FROM MING TO QING 73-112 (Lynn A. Strove ed., 2005).
206. Dennerline, supra note 141, at 111.
207. 1-6 DAQING SHENGZU REN HUANGDI SHILU, supra note 121, at 1647.
208. Id.
209. Id. at 3125; MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 9, 22, 129, 162; JONATHAN D. SPENCE, EMPEROR OF CHINA: SELF-PORTRAIT OF K'ANG-HSI 29-33, 169 (1974);
210. JONATHAN D. SPENCE, The K'ang-hsi Reign, in 9 CAMBRIDGE, supra note 134, at 130, 133, 143, 182.
211. SILAS HSIU-LIANG WU, PASSAGE TO POWER: K'ANG-HIS AND THE HEIR APPARENT, 1661-1722 (1979);
212. YONGZHENG, YONGZHENG HUANGDI CHENG DASHI DE ERDA FANGLUE [YONGZHENG'S TWO STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING GREAT SUCCESS] 31 (Shi Sen trans. and ed., 2000).
213. 39 DAQING SHENGZU REN HUANGDI SHILU, supra note 141, at 576. A skeptic, of course, might suggest that Yongzheng was here justifying the enhancement of his own power vis-à-vis a highly capable but independently minded official. That he felt required to appeal to the rule of law is significant. Id.
214. PEI HUANG, AUTOCRACY AT WORK: A STUDY OF THE YUNG-CHENG PERIOD, 1723-1735 (1974); MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at 107; Zelin, supra note 135, at 218-21.
215. JONATHAN D. SPENCE, TREASON BY THE BOOK 128-29 (2001).
216. See generally HAROLD L. KAHN, MONARCHY IN THE EMPEROR'S EYES: IMAGE AND REALITY IN THE CH'IEN-LUNG REIGN (1971) (explaining the Qianlong reign (1735-1796) from the images of both the emperor himself and beholders).
217. Woodside, supra note 134, at 304; see Guy, supra note 2, at 88-107. For Chen Hongmou, see WILLIAM ROWE, SAVING THE WORLD: CHEN HONGMOU AND ELITE CONSCIOUSNESS IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHINA (2001).
218. For less positive views of Qianlong justice, see PHILIP A. KUHN, SOULSTEALERS: THE CHINESE SORCERY SCARE OF 1768 (1990).
219. R. Randle Edwards, Ch'ing Legal Jurisdiction over Foreigners, in TRADITION, supra note 15, at 222-41.
220. Id.
221. Id. at 242-51.
222. Id. at 251-60.
223. For a very stimulating but rather different interpretation of matters of identity and sovereignty in the Qing confrontation with the West in this period, see LYDIA H. LIU, THE CLASH OF EMPIRES: THE INVENTION OF CHINA IN MODERN WORLD MAKING chs. 2-4 (2004).
224. Scholars disagree about the sources and degrees of China's relative military weakness in the late nineteenth century. Yet both BENJAMIN A. ELMAN, ON THEIR OWN TERMS: SCIENCE IN CHINA, 1550-1900 chs. 8-11 (2005)
225. and S.C.M. PAINE, THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR OF 1894-1895: PERCEPTIONS, POWER, AND PRIMACY (2003) explain that China's military was not inferior to the West and Japan in the late nineteenth century.
226. WILLIAM P. ALFORD, TO STEAL A BOOK IS AN ELEGANT OFFENSE 34-45 (1995).
227. Id.
228. Id.; Alford, supra note 6, at 51.
229. Rosser H. Brockman, Commercial Contract Law in Late Nineteenth-Century Taiwan, in TRADITION, supra note 15, at 76-136;
230. David Buxbaum, Some Aspects of Civil Procedure and Practice at the Trial Level in Tanshui and Hsinchu from 1789 to 1895, 30 J. ASIAN STUD. 255-79 (1971).
231. PHILIP C.C. HUANG, CODE, CUSTOM, AND LEGAL PRACTICE IN CHINA 23 (2000)
232. Id. at 27; MACCORMACK, supra note 11, at xiv. See generally MARK A. ALLEE, LAW AND SOCIETY IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA: NORTHEN TAIWAN IN THE NINTEENTH CENTURY (1994) (explaining the difference between civil and criminal laws in China);
233. Mark A. Allee, Code, Culture, and Custom: Foundations of Civil Case Verdicts in a Nineteenth-Century County Court, in CIVIL LAW IN QING AND REPUBLICAN CHINA 122-41 (Kathryn Bernhardt & Philip C.C. Huang eds., 1994) [hereinafter CIVIL LAW];
234. PHILIP C.C. HUANG, Codified Law and Magisterial Adjudication in the Qing, in CIVIL LAW, supra, at 142-86;
235. JING JUNJIAN, Legislation Related to the Civil Economy in the Qing Dynasty, in CIVIL LAW, supra, at 42-84.
236. MARINUS J. MEIJER, THE INTRODUCTION OF MODERN CRIMINAL LAW IN CHINA 52 (1976). See generally HUANG, supra note 162, at 27-30 (explaining the background of the late Qing legal reform)
237. MARINUS J. MEIJER, Slavery at the end of the Ch'ing Dynasty, in TRADITION, supra note 15, at 327-58.
238. Id. In fact, inequality between Manchu and Han persisted. See generally EDWARD RHOADS, MANCHU AND HAN: ETHNIC RELATIONS AND POLITICAL POWER IN LATE QING AND EARLY REPUBLICAN CHINA, 1861-1928 (2000) (explaining the surge of the Manchu power in the last years of the Qing).
239. See DIKÖTTER, supra note 50, at 47-48, 66, 71, 77, 101-02, 108-11, 174; HUANG, supra note 162, at 39-40, 43-47, 54-55; Jerome Cohen, Introduction, in TRADITION, supra note 15, at 6; ALISON W. CONNER, Lawyers and the Legal Profession During the Republican Period, in CIVIL LAW, supra note 163, at 215-48 (tracing the professional and ethical development of lawyers in the Republican Period);
240. MELISSA A. MACAULEY, Civil and Uncivil Disputes in Southeast Coastal China, in CIVIL LAW, supra note 163, at 84-121 (explaining the role and status of litigation masters). See generally Meijer, supra note 138, at 64-119, 190-202 (explaining the revisions in the criminal code drafted in the late Qing).
241. DIKÖTTER, supra note 50, at 79.
242. ERNEST P. YOUNG, Politics in the aftermath of revolution: the era of Yuan Shih-k'ai, 1912-16, in 12 THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHINA: REPUBLICAN CHINA 1912-1949, at 226, 243 (John K. Fairbank ed., 1983) [hereinafter 12 CAMBRIDGE].
243. Id.
244. See DIKÖTTER, supra note 50, at 63, 79, 86, 93, 103; HUANG, supra note 137, at 55; YOUNG, supra note 169.
245. DIKÖTTER, supra note 50, at 191.
246. Id.
247. Id. at 283.
248. HUANG, supra note 162, at 57-61.
249. Id. at 62.
250. Id. See generally KATHRYN BERNHARDT, WOMEN AND PROPERTY IN CHINA 960-1949 (1999) (explaining the expanding rights of women with regard to property and inheritance in Republican China).
251. See DIKÖTTER, supra note 50, at 78, 90, 91, 94, 97-99, 105-06, 137; FREDERIC W. WAKEMAN, POLICING SHANGHAI, 1927-1937, at 249-59 (1995).
252. HUANG, supra note 162, at 63.
253. Id.
254. Id. at 63-64.
255. Id. at 68.
256. DIKÖTTER, supra note 50, at 163-64, 179.
257. LLOYD EASTMAN, THE ABORTIVE REVOLUTION: CHINA UNDER NATIONALIST RULE, 1927-1937, at 42 (1974).
258. Id. at 43.
259. Id. at 40.
260. Id. at 45-46.
261. JONATHAN FENBY, CHIANG KAI-SHEK: CHINA'S GENERALISSIMO AND THE NATION HE LOST 231 (2004).
262. FREDERIC WAKEMAN JR, SPYMASTER: DAI LI AND THE CHINESE SECRET SERVICE 44-45 (2003).
263. DIKÖTTER, supra note 50, at 348-49; see generally MICHAEL SCHALLER, THE U.S CRUSADE IN CHINA, 1938-1945 ch.11 (1979) (analyzing the scope of U.S. cooperation with the Guomindang).