ABSTRACT
Facing the invasion of foreign powers and the existence of consular jurisdiction, the Qing government started the legal system reform in the New Policy Reform in the 1900s. Headed by Shen Jiaben, the legal reformers followed the practice of European Continental Law and the Japanese legal system. They revised the traditional Chinese laws to achieve a legal system of lighter punishment, less cruelty and more equality. They also drafted new laws that did not exist before, such as criminal law, civil law, commercial law and procedural law. This reform broke the traditional Chinese system of legal codes in which all kinds of laws were included. The traditional Chinese legal system thus was quickly replaced by a modern legal system that composed of constitution, civil law, criminal law, civil procedure law, criminal procedure law, and administrative law. The legal reform in the late Qing, though profound and influential, reflected the characteristics of a transitional system in which the old and new coexisted and the Chinese and Western legal systems were combined.
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Glossary
buyuan zhizheng 部院之争
Da Qing fayuan bianzhifa 大清法院编制法
Da Qing lü jijie fuli 大清律集解附例
Da Qing lüli 《大清律例》
Da Qing weijinglü 大清违警律
Da Qing xin xinglü 大清新刑律
Da Qing xinglü susonglü 大清刑律诉讼律
Da Qing xingshi susonglü caoan 大清刑事诉讼律草案
Dalisi 大理寺
Daliyuan shenpan bianzhifa 大理院审判编制法
Daliyuan 大理院
Fabu 法部
Fajing 《法经》
Fayuan bianzhifa 法院编制法
Fayuan zuzhifa 法院组织法
Guian 归安
Guoji tiaoli 国籍条例
Jianming shanghui zhangcheng 简明商会章程
jiu di zheng fa 就地正法
li 例
Li Hongzhang 李鸿章
Li Kui 李悝
Liu Kunyi 刘坤一
Lixueguan 礼学馆
lü 律
Lüliguan 律例馆
Qiushenchu 秋审处
Shangfa diaocha an商法调查案
Shanghai shangwu zonghui 上海商务总会
Shanghai shangxue gonghui 上海商学公会
Shanghai yubei lixian gonghui 上海预备立宪公会
Shen Jiaben 沈家本
Tang Shaoyi 唐绍仪
Weijinglü 违警律
Wu Tingfang 伍廷芳
Xianfeng 咸丰
Xianzheng bianchaguan 宪政编查馆
xiaozhu 小注
Xingshi minshi susongfa 刑事民事诉讼法
Xiuding falü guan 修订法律馆
Xiulü dachen 修律大臣
Xuantong 宣统
Yuan Shikai 袁世凯
Zaizhen 载振
Zhang Zhidong 张之洞
Zheng Guanying 郑观应
Zhonghua faxi中华法系
zhufa heti 诸法合体
Zizhengyuan 资政院
Notes
1 Roberts, Shijiu shiji xifangren yanzhong de Zhongguo, 23.
2 Yang Honglie, Zhongguo falü sixiangshi, 300.
3 Wang Tieya, Zhongwai jiu yuezhang huibian, vol. 1, 42.
4 Ibid., 42–56, 62–64, 75–76, 97–99, 110–112.
5 Zhao Erxun, Qingshi gao, vol. 15, annal 118, criminal Law 2, 4202.
6 Liang Jing Chun, Zai Hua lingshi caipanquan, 2.
7 Wang Tieya, Zhongwai jiu yuezhang huibian, vol. 2, 109.
8 Zhongguo diyi lishi dang’anguan, Guangxu Xuantong liang chao shangyu dang, vol. 28, 95.
9 Li Guilian, Shen Jiaben nianpu changbian.
10 Zhang Yunqiao, Wu Tingfang yu Qingmo zhengzhi gaige; and Ding Xianjun, and Yu Zuofeng, Wu Tingfang ji.
11 Huang Yuansheng, Zhongguo fashi daolun, 386–387.
12 Chen Yu, Qingmo xinzheng zhong de xiuding falü guan, 210–211.
13 Xiong Dayun, Yanglü cu dong, 198–262.
14 Tian Tao, and Zheng Qin, Da Qing lüli.
15 Shen Jiaben, Jiyi wencun, 2–5.
16 “Qinding da Qing xianxing xinglü,” 252–446.
17 Xie Zhenmin, Zhonghua minguo lifashi, 882.
18 “Da Qing xin xinglü,” 447–498.
19 Chen Xinyu, Cong bifu yuanyin dao zuixing fading, 81–91.
20 Li Xinrong, Zichuang liangfa.
21 Xie Zhenmin, Zhonghua minguo lifashi, 886–887.
22 Pan Weihe, Zhongguo jindai minfashi, vol. 1, 85.
23 “Da Qing minlü caoan,” 510–810.
24 Pan Weihe, Zhongguo jindai minfashi, vol. 2, 23–24.
25 “Qinding da Qing shanglü,” 865–872.
26 Xu Lizhi, “Qing Xuantong ernian shanglü caoan kao,” 462–474.
27 Hou Yijie, Ershi shiji chu Zhongguo zhengzhi, 95.
28 “Xingshi minshi susongfa,” 436–454.
29 “Da Qing xingshi susonglü caoan,” 507–541.
30 Huang Yuansheng, Zhongguo fashi daolun, 392–394.
31 Xie Zhenmin, Zhonghua minguo lifashi, 991.
32 Zhang Qin, Zhongguo jindai minshi sifa biange yanjiu, 178–185.
33 Chen Gang, Zhongguo minshi susong fazhi, 132–138.
34 Zhang Congrong, Buyuan zhizheng.
35 Wu Zeyong, “Qingmo xiuding Fayuan bianzhifa kaolüe,” 154–160.
36 “Fayuan bianzhifa,” 492–502.
37 Ibid., 498.
38 Wang Qingqi, Gesheng shenpanding pandu.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Zaiquan LI
LI Zaiquan, a senior researcher at the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. His main research interest is political history of the Republic of China, modern legal history, the revolutionary history of the twentieth century, etc. His representative works include Rule of Law and Party Governance: Partinization of Judicature in the Nationalist Regime (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2012) and Legal Careers in the Changing Times: Individual and Group of Modern Chinese Judges (Beijing: Social Science Academic Press, 2018).