Kaihuang Code

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The Kaihuang Code (

Formulation and enactment

In 581 CE, the first year of the Kaihuang (开皇/開皇)

Liang

Dynasties. The legal drafting was based on historical severity of laws with compromises made when required. As a result, the “New Laws” were enacted in October 581.

Three years later in 583 CE, Emperor Wen received a memorial from the Inspector of the Ministry of Punishments from which he concluded “The number of court cases waiting to be judged has reached 10,000. I believe that our laws are still too strict and many of my old friends are falsely accused of crimes.” He once more ordered Su Wei and Niu Hong (牛弘) amongst others to immediately cancel a number of laws and simplify others with the intention of lightening punishments. Once complete, these new laws were duly proclaimed as the Kaihuang Code.

Legal content

The Kaihuang Code contains a total of twelve chapters which in turn contain 500 statutes. Compared to the previous laws, 80 capital offences no longer appear along with 154 crimes for which banishment was formerly the punishment. More than one thousand offences for which imprisonment and caning were previously prescribed were also removed from the statute book. The primary sources of the changes were the published laws of the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou Dynasties, whilst in the table of contents there are entries for precedents (名例), restrictions on weaponry (卫禁), regulation of government offices (职制), marriage (户婚), barns and warehouses (厩库), dispatch of armies without authority (擅兴), theft and robbery (贼盗 also written as 盗贼), litigation (斗讼), fraudulent practices (诈伪), miscellaneous laws (杂律), capture of evaders (捕亡) and 12 chapters on judging cases (断狱). A number of legal procedures useful for the common people are also listed, for example miscarriages of justice could be individually appealed all the way to the Imperial court.

Punishments

Due to the severe and harsh nature of the government that he witnessed during his time as a Northern Zhou official, Emperor Wen of Sui advocated clear and simple frugal laws that would please the population at large.

. There were five grades of prison sentence with terms of one year, one and a half years, two years, two and a half years or three years. Beating with a large stick involved between 60 and 100 blows whilst between tens and fifty lashes were given with the bamboo cane.

The Ten Abominations

The Ten Abominations laid out in the Kaihuang Code were based on The Ten Felonies (重罪十条) of the Northern Qi Dynasty. According to the new statutes, “on the completion of a prison sentence handed down for one of the Ten Abominations or premeditated murder, even if pardoned the offender’s name will be expunged from his ancestral records”. Over time, The Ten Abominations defined in the Kaihuang Code were adopted by later dynasties without modification.

Privileges

The Kaihuang code offered certain privileges to criminal offenders who were members of the nobility and bureaucracy. Offenders falling within the scope of the Eight Deliberations or government officials of the seventh rank (七品) and above could have their sentences reduced except in the case of a crime classified as one of the Ten Abominations. Officials of the eighth rank (八品) and above were absolved of their crime on payment of a suitable sum of money to the Imperial treasury.

Evaluation and assessment

Even though the Sui dynasty lasted only 37 years, the reformation of its legal institutions accomplished major results. The Kaihuang Code is regarded by historians as an example of "good law" and the origin of Han Chinese law. Every legal institution of the Tang dynasty was a direct successor to those of the Sui dynasty with the Kaihuang Code a blueprint for its laws. Later, the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties all continued to use the code, making it a fundamental part of the development of the Chinese legal system. The Kaihuang Code also influenced the foundation and development of the legal systems of other South East Asian countries including Japan, Korea and Vietnam.^[4]

References