The Great Qing Legal Code or Qing Code (Chinese: 大清律例; Manchu: Daicing gurun-i fafun-i bithe kooli) was the legal code of Qing dynasty (1644-1912). The code was based on the Ming legal system, which was kept largely intact. Compare 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 Manchu language is a Tungusic 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. ... The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: QÄ«ng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China, expanded into China and the surrounding territories, establishing the Empire... // Events February to August - Explorer Abel Tasmans second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see Ming. ... A statute is a formal, written law of a country or state, written and enacted by its legislative authority, perhaps to then be ratified by the highest executive in the government, and finally published. ...

The Qing code was the last feudal legal code of 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. Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum, itself borrowed from a Germanic root *fehu, a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held under certain obligations by feodati. ... This article is 58 kilobytes or more in size. ... Motto: Three Principles of the People (三民主義 San-min Chu-i) Anthem: National Anthem of the Republic of China Capital Taipei (de facto)  Nanking (de jure)1  Largest city Taipei Official languages Mandarin (GuóyÇ”) Government Semi-presidential system  - President Chen Shui-bian  - Vice President Annette Lu  - Premier Su Tseng-chang... The Law of the Soviet Union—also known as Soviet Law, or Socialist Law—was the law that developed in the Soviet Union following the Russian October Revolution of 1917; modified versions of it were adopted by many Communist states (see below) following the Second World War. ...

Nature of the Code

The traditional Chinese law 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 Song, Ming and Qing. Throughout the centuries the Confucian foundations of the Tang Code were retained with even some aspects strengthened. Traditional Chinese law refers to the laws, regulations and rules used in China up to 1911, when the last imperial dynasty fell. ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical, religious and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... The Tang Code (唐律) was the criminal or penal code established during the Tang Dynasty in China. ... Confucian temple in Jiading district, Shanghai. ... Neo-Confucianism (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ...

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 capital offenses were reported to the capital and required the personal approval of the emperor. Torture is defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture as any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... The Qing Dynasty was founded as the Later Jin Dynasty in 1616 by Nurhaci, a Manchu of the Aisin-Gioro Clan, and changed its name to Qing in 1636. ...

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. A civil code is a systematic compilation of laws designed to comprehensively deal with the core areas of private law. ... A Criminal Code is a compilation of government laws that outline a nations criminal offenses, and the maximum and minimum punishments that courts can impose upon offenders when such crimes are committed. ... Civil law or continental law is the predominant system of law in the world, with its origins in Roman law, and sets out a comprehensive system of rules, usually codified, that are applied and interpreted by judges. ... In the common law, a tort is a civil wrong for which the law provides a remedy. ...

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. In Chinese history, Legalism (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fa-chia; literally School of law) was one of the four main philosophic schools in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (Near the end of the Zhou dynasty from about the sixth century B.C. to about the...

Unique Statutes

The following are some of the statutes found uniquely in the Qing code.

Qing Code and the West

The Great Qing Legal Code was the first written Chinese work directly translated into English. 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 English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Sir George Thomas Staunton, Baronet, (May 26, 1781 - August 10, 1859) was an English traveller and Orientalist. ... 1810 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... For the overture by Tchaikovsky, see 1812 Overture; For the wars, see War of 1812 (USA - United Kingdom) or Patriotic War of 1812 (France - Russia) For the Siberia Airlines plane crashed over the Black Sea on October 4, 2001, see Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 1812 was a leap year starting...

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. (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... The Opium Wars (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), or the Anglo-Chinese Wars were two wars fought in the mid-1800s that were the climax of a long dispute between China and Britain. ... The Unequal Treaties is the name in the English language used by modern China for a series of treaties signed by several Asian states, including the Qing Empire in China, late Tokugawa Japan, and late Joseon Korea, and foreign powers (列強, 열강) during the 19th and early 20th centuries. ...

In the late Qing dynasty there was a concerted effort to establish legal codes based on European 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. This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... Combatants Second French Empire North German Confederation allied with south German states (later German Empire) Commanders Napoleon III # Otto Von Bismarck Helmuth von Moltke the Elder Strength 400,000[] 1,200,000[] Casualties 150,000 dead or wounded 284,000 captured 350,000 civilian [] 70,000 dead or wounded 200...

The End of Qing Code and Republican Laws

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 existing German-based legal codes were then adopted by the new Republic of China government, but they 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. In the end, most of the new laws were discarded as the KMT became preoccupied with fighting the Chinese Communists and the invading Japanese. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the 1925 death of Sun Yat-sen. ... The Nationalist Party of China (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Tongyong Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chung1-kuo2 Kuo2-min2-tang3), commonly known as the Kuomintang (KMT), is a centre-right political party in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and is currently the largest political party in terms of sitting... The Communist Party of China (CPC) (official name, though almost universally known in English as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)) (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng) is the ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China, a position guaranteed by the countrys... Combatants Republic of China Empire of Japan Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren, Xue Yue, Mao Zedong. ...

Law in the Republic of China on Taiwan is based on the German-based legal system carried to Taiwan by the Kuomintang. In the area of constitutional law, the Republic of China uses the 1947 Constitution which was promulgated for both Mainland China and Taiwan. Numerous changes have been made to take into account the fact that the Republic of China only controls Taiwan and two counties of Fujian. Constitutional law is the study of foundational or basic laws of nation states and other political organizations. ... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC); however, it excludes the two special administrative regions...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal map spelling: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

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), as well as piracy causing death and piracy with arson, rape, kidnapping or murder (both entail mandatory death penalty). One legacy from those bygone era is the offence of murder of a family member (e.g. patricide). Until its imminent abolition on July 1, 2006, the offense entails life imprisonment or death, even for minors. Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... The flag of 18th-century pirate Calico Jack Piracy is robbery committed at sea, or sometimes on the shore, by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation. ... Patricide is (i) the act of killing ones father, or (ii) a person who kills his or her father. ...

People's Republic of China

In the People's Republic of China, while the legal system was, and to some extent still is, based on socialist law, it does incorporate 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. Socialist law is the official name of the legal system used in Communist states. ...

After the Communist victory in 1949, the People's Republic of China quickly abolished the Republic of China's legal codes and attempted to create a system of socialist law copied from the Soviet Union. With the Sino-Soviet split and the Cultural Revolution, all legal work was suspected of being counter-revolutionary, and the legal system completely collapsed. 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... The Sino-Soviet split was a major diplomatic conflict between the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), beginning in the late 1950s, reaching a peak in 1969 and continuing in various ways until the late 1980s. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

With the start of the Deng Xiaoping reforms, the need for reconstructing a legal system to restrain abuses of official authority and revolutionary excesses was seen. In 1982, the National People's Congress adopted a new state constitution that emphasized the rule of law under which even party leaders are theoretically held accountable. This reconstruction was done in piece-meal fashion. Typically, temporary or local regulations would be established and after a few years of experimentation, conflicting regulations and laws would be standardized. Deng Xiaoping   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Teng Hsiao-ping; August 22, 1904–February 19, 1997) was a leader in the Communist Party of China (CCP). ... The Great Hall of the People, where the NPC convenes The National Peoples Congress (全国人民代表大会 in Pinyin: Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì, literally Pan-Nation Congress of the Peoples Representatives), abbreviated PNCOTPR, is the highest... The Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China (中华人民共和国宪法; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó XiànfÇŽ) is the highest law within the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Since 1979, when the drive to establish a functioning legal system began, more than 300 laws and regulations -- most of them in the economic area -- have been promulgated. The use of mediation committees, informed groups of citizens who resolve about 90% of the PRC's civil disputes and some minor criminal cases at no cost to the parties, is one innovative device. There are more than 800,000 such committees in both rural and urban areas.

In drafting the new laws, the PRC has declined to copy any other legal system in whole, and the general pattern has been to issue laws for a specific topic or location. Often laws are drafted on a trial basis, with the law being redrafted after several years. This process of creating a legal infrastructure piecemeal has led to many situations where the laws are missing, confusing, or contradictory, and has led to judicial decisions having more precedental value than in most civil law jurisdiction. In formulating laws, the PRC has been influenced by a number of sources including traditional Chinese views toward the role of law, the PRC's socialist background, the German-based law of the Republic of China on Taiwan, and the English-based common law used in Hong Kong. The law of the United States has also been very influential particularly in the area of banking and securities law. This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, after the colonization by the British Empire 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. This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Salome and the Beheading of St. ... // This page is about death by hanging. ... The term polygamy (many marriages in late Greek) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology and sociology. ...

Sources

• 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 dynasty
• Traditional Chinese law
• Chinese law
• Law of the People's Republic of China
• Ten Abominations
• Imperialism

The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: Qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China, expanded into China and the surrounding territories, establishing the Empire... Traditional Chinese law refers to the laws, regulations and rules used in China up to 1911, when the last imperial dynasty fell. ... The Law of China, for most of the history of China, was rooted in the Confucian philosophy of social control. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Ten Abominations (十恶) 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. ... // Cecil Rhodes: Cape-Cairo railway project. ...

External links

• The Qing Code