Introduction ism, al though it profoundly influenced the chinese attitude toward all law, has been a despised term for more than two thousand years. T his is because the legalist concept of law fell far short of the ro man. W hereas w estern law has been conceived of human embodiment of some higher order of God or na ture, the law of the legalists repre- sented only the ruler s fiat. China dev eloped little or no civ il law to protect the citizen; law remained largely administrative and penal, something the people attempted to av oid as much as possi ble. (1) Fairbank' s assessment, like w eber's, d welled on China s clas- sical era and its failure ta produce a sy stem of law comparable to classical w estern law. he described Chi- nese law as criminal rather than civ il: secular rather than based on religious principles and Supportive of state powe rather restricting tyranny. o ther sinolo- gists, who turned their attention more closely to law, did little to dispel these negative views of Chinese legal culture. In his famous essay on classical Chinese legal theory in Science and Civilization (1) John K ing Fairbank, East A sia: The G reat Traditon ( Boston: Houghton M ifflin, 1960), p.84
i s m , a l t h o u g h i t p r o f o u n d l y i n f l u e n c e d t h e C h i n e s e a t t i t u d e t o w a r d a l l a w , h a s b e e n a d e s p i s e d t e r m f o r m o r e t h a n t w o t h o u s a n d y e a r s . T h i s i s b e c a u s e t h e L e g a l i s t c o n c e p t o f l a w f e l f a r s h o r t o f t h e R o B m a n . W h e r e a s W e s t e r n l a w h a s b e e n c o n c e i v e d o f a s a h u m a n e m b o d i m e n t o f s o m e h i g h e r o r d e r o f G o d o r n a - t u r e , t h e l a w o f t h e L e g a l i s t s r e p r e B s e n t e d o n l y t h e r u l e r ’ s f i a t . C h i n a d e v e l o p e d l i t t l e o r n o c i v i l l a w t o p r o t e c t t h e c i t i z e n ; l a w r e m a i n e d l a r g e l y a d m i n i s t r a t i v e a n d p e n a l , s o m e t h i n g t h e p e o p l e a t t e m p t e d t o a v o i d a s m u c h a s p o s s i - b l e . 〔 1 〕 F a i r b a n k ’ s a s s e s s m e n t , l i k e W e b e r ’ s , d w e l e d o n C h i n a ’ s c l a s - s i c a l e r a a n d i t s f a i l u r e t a p r o d u c e a s y s t e m o f l a w c o m p a r a b l e t o c l a s s i c a l W e s t e r n l a w . H e d e s c r i b e d C h i B n e s e l a w a s c r i m i n a l r a t h e r t h a n c i v i l ; s e c u l a r r a t h e r t h a n b a s e d o n r e l i g i o u s p r i n c i p l e s ; a n d S u p p o r t i v e o f s t a t e p o w e r r a t h e r r e s t r i c t i n g t y r a n n y . O t h e r s i n o l o - g i s t s , w h o t u r n e d t h e i r a t t e n t i o n m o r e c l o s e l y t o l a w , d i d l i t t l e t o d i s p e l t h e s e n e g a t i v e v i e w s o f C h i n e s e l e g a l c u l t n r e . l n h i s f a m o u s e s s a y o n c l a s s i c a l C h i n e s e l e g a l t h e o r y i n S c i e n c e a n d C i v i l i z a t i o n I n t r o d u c t i o n 2 1 〔 1 〕 J o h n K i n g F a i r b a n k , E a s t A s i a : T h e G r e a t T r a d i t o n ( B o s t o n : H o u g h t o n M i f f l i n , 1 9 6 0 ) , p . 8 4 .
Introduction in China, Joseph n eedham blamed Chinas inability to artic ulate a no- tion of natursl law as a basis to check and judge official law of blunt- ing modern legal dev elopment and sci- entific progress. (1) Another pioneer in W estern studies of Chinese law, Derk Bodde, recong nized that the legal sys- tem of the Q ing dynasty did in fact pay a great deal of atten tion to formal law. But bodde argued that official law was completely divorced from univer sat ethical concerns and fo cused almost exclusiv ely on procedures for determining punishments for crimes against the state. (2)Bodde,like many of his contempo raines, accepted the elite confucian view that abuses of official pow er throughout Chinese his- tory should be blamed not on fallible judges but on draconi an laws. Bodde, again like most w estern scholars, believ ed that the only ethical concern that in formed Chi- nese law stemmed from the Confucian ideal that kinship and status must play a larger role in determining punishment than the nature of the crime itself. But w estern scholars did not view this element of Con fucian moralism as a contribution to fair (1)See Joseph Needham, Science and Civ ilzatiotion in China (Camr- bridge: Cambridge U niv ersity Press, 1956), V ol. 2 Derk Bodde and Clarence m orris, Law in Imperial China xemplified by 190 Ch' ing D ynasty Casgs (Paris and The hague Mouton co. 1961)
i n C h i n a , J o s e p h N e e d h a m b l a m e d C h i n a ’ s i n a b i l i t y t o a r t i c B u l a t e a n o - t i o n o f n a t u r s l l a w a s a b a s i s t o c h e c k a n d j u d g e o f f i c i a l l a w o f b l u n t - i n g m o d e r n l e g a l d e v e l o p m e n t a n d s c i B e n t i f i c p r o g r e s s . 〔 1 〕 A n o t h e r p i o n e e r i n W e s t e r n s t u d i e s o f C h i n e s e l a w , D e r k B o d d e , r e c o n g - n i z e d t h a t t h e l e g a l s y s B t e m o f t h e Q i n g d y n a s t y d i d i n f a c t p a y a g r e a t d e a l o f a t t e n B t i o n t o f o r m a l l a w . B u t B o d d e a r g u e d t h a t o f f i c i a l l a w w a s c o m p l e t e l y d i v o r c e d f r o m u n i v e r s a t e t h i c a l c o n c e r n s a n d f o - c u s e d a l m o s t e x c l u s i v e l y o n p r o c e d u r e s f o r d e t e r m i n i n g p u n i s h m e n t s f o r c r i m e s a g a i n s t t h e s t a t e . 〔 2 〕 B o d d e , l i k e m a n y o f h i s c o n t e m p o - r a i r e s , a c c e p t e d t h e e l i t e C o n f u c i a n v i e w t h a t a b u s e s o f o f f i c i a l p o w - e r t h r o u g h o u t C h i n e s e h i s B t o r y s h o u l d b e b l a m e d n o t o n f a l i b l e j u d g e s b u t o n d r a c o n i B a n l a w s . B o d d e , a g a i n l i k e m o s t W e s t e r n s c h o l a r s , b e l i e v e d t h a t t h e o n l y e t h i c a l c o n c e r n t h a t i n f o r m e d C h i - n e s e l a w s t e m m e d f r o m t h e C o n f u c i a n i d e a l t h a t k i n s h i p a n d s t a t u s m u s t p l a y a l a r g e r r o l e i n d e t e r m i n i n g p u n i s h m e n t t h a n t h e n a t u r e o f t h e c r i m e i t s e l f . B u t W e s t e r n s c h o l a r s d i d n o t v i e w t h i s e l e m e n t o f C o n f u c i a n m o r a l i s m a s a c o n t r i b u t i o n t o f a i r 2 2 I n t r o d u c t i o n 〔 1 〕 〔 2 〕 D e r k B o d d e a n d C l a r e n c e M o r r i s , L a w i n I m p e r i a l C h i n a E x e m p l i f i e d b y 1 9 0 C h ’ i n g D y n a s t y C a s g s ( P a r i s a n d T h e H a g u e : M o u t o n & C o . , 1 9 6 1 ) S e e J o s e p h N e e d h a m , S c i e n c e a n d C i v i l z a t i o t i o n i n C h i n a ( C a m - b r i d g e ; C a m b r i d g e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 5 6 ) , V o l . 2 .
Introduction law, but as a means to rein force undesirable particularistic and customary elements in the Chinese legal system. And they detected little change in China over its two thou sand year imperial history, considering Q ing China but a more highly dev eloped totalitarian state than the early empires Thus in W estern sinological writings form the 1950s and 60s, Chi- nese legal culture has too often been used as a case to highlight the unique achiev ements of the w est rather than the internal dynamics of the Chinese legal sy stem However not all comparativ e assessments of Chinese and w est- ern law in the immediate post- war era painted a negative vision of China. Some a merican lawyers and ju rists, who understood better than academic theoriats the problems inherent in balancing human judgement with for- mal law, expressed more positiv e opinions about Chinas traditional skepticism about formal law. For example, one of the most controv ersial of the post-w ar legal realists, Judge Jerome Frank, in Courts on Trial, deplored the a merican hypocrisy that preached that the courts upheld an unadultra- ted rule oflaw. 1)He praised the Chinese for admitting can- didly early in their history that in the end legal decisrons were human decisions, subject more to the personal predilec (1)See Jerome Frank, Courts on Trial: M yth and Reality in A merican Justice (Princeton: Princeton U niversity Press, 1949)
l a w , b u t a s a m e a n s t o r e i n f o r c e u n d e s i r a b l e p a r t i c u l a r i s t i c a n d c u s t o m a r y e l e m e n t s i n t h e C h i n e s e l e g a l s y s t e m . A n d t h e y d e t e c t e d l i t t l e c h a n g e i n C h i n a o v e r i t s t w o - t h o u s a n d y e a r i m p e r i a l h i s t o r y , c o n s i d e r i n g Q i n g C h i n a b u t a m o r e h i g h l y d e v e l o p e d t o t a l i t a r i a n s t a t e t h a n t h e e a r l y e m p i r e s . T h u s i n W e s t e r n s i n o l o g i c a l w r i t i n g s f o r m t h e 1 9 5 0 s a n d 6 0 s , C h i - n e s e l e g a l c u l t u r e h a s t o o o f t e n b e e n u s e d a s a c a s e t o h i g h l i g h t t h e u n i q u e a c h i e v e m e n t s o f t h e W e s t r a t h e r t h a n t h e i n t e r n a l d y n a m i c s o f t h e C h i n e s e l e g a l s y s t e m . H o w e v e r n o t a l c o m p a r a t i v e a s s e s s m e n t s o f C h i n e s e a n d W e s t - e r n l a w i n t h e i m m e d i a t e p o s t - w a r e r a p a i n t e d a n e g a t i v e v i s i o n o f C h i n a . S o m e A m e r i c a n l a w y e r s a n d j u B r i s t s , w h o u n d e r s t o o d b e t t e r t h a n a c a d e m i c t h e o r i a t s t h e p r o b l e m s i n h e r e n t i n b a l a n c i n g h u m a n j u d g e m e n t w i t h f o r B m a l l a w , e x p r e s s e d m o r e p o s i t i v e o p i n i o n s a b o u t C h i n a ’ s t r a d i t i o n a l s k e p t i c i s m a b o u t f o r m a l l a w . F o r e x a m p l e , o n e o f t h e m o s t c o n t r o v e r s i a l o f t h e p o s t - W a r l e g a l r e a l i s t s , J u d g e J e r o m e F r a n k , i n C o u r t s o n T r i a l , d e p l o r e d t h e A m e r i c a n h y p o c r i s y t h a t p r e a c h e d t h a t t h e c o u r t s u p h e l d a n u n a d u l t r a B t e d r u l e o f l a w . 〔 1 〕 H e p r a i s e d t h e C h i n e s e f o r a d m i t t i n g c a n B d i d l y e a r l y i n t h e i r h i s t o r y t h a t i n t h e e n d l e g a l d e c i s r o n s w e r e h u m a n d e c i s i o n s , s u b j e c t m o r e t o t h e p e r s o n a l p r e d i l e c B I n t r o d u c t i o n 2 3 〔 1 〕 S e e J e r o m e F r a n k , C o u r t s o n T r i a l : M y t h a n d R e a l i t y i n A m e r i c a n J u s t i c e ( P r i n c e t o n : P r i n c e t o n U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 4 9 ) .
4 Introduction tions ofjudges than the formal law. a nd he admired the chi- nese for preferring in formal mediation to formal legal reso- lution. Another great A merican jurisprude from this era, Roscoe Pound, also viewed some aspects of China s trad tional law with fav or. (1)He argued that the Chinese her- itage need not be discarded in China s search for a modern"legal system. w riting from China in 1948, Pound urged that modernizing nations generally must strike a bal ance bet ween adopting wholesale new laws to suit new situ- ations and maintaining outmoded legal tradi- tions. This could be done if the ethical systems of each country which have been tested by history were preser ved as the back bone for new legislation. O fChina he stated: " It may well pro ve to be an ad vantage that China has had a traditional moral hilosophical body of recei ved ethical cu stom which may be- come a body of recei ved ide als to which the adjustment of relations and ordering of conduct may be shaped. Like Jerome Frank, Roscoe Pound found attractive China' s flexi- ble but moral approach to legal decisions How can we explain these very different assessments about Chinese law that emerged in the post-w ar era in the United States? In my opinion, a deep ambi alence about law (1) Roscoe Pound,"Comparative Law and History as eases for Chi nese Law, Harv ard Law Review (1948): 749-62
t i o n s o f j u d g e s t h a n t h e f o r m a l l a w . A n d h e a d m i r e d t h e C h i B n e s e f o r p r e f e r r i n g i n f o r m a l m e d i a t i o n t o f o r m a l l e g a l r e s o B l u t i o n . A n o t h e r g r e a t A m e r i c a n j u r i s p r u d e f r o m t h i s e r a , R o s c o e P o u n d , a l s o v i e w e d s o m e a s p e c t s o f C h i n a ’ s t r a d i - t i o n a l l a w w i t h f a v o r . 〔 1 〕 H e a r g u e d t h a t t h e C h i n e s e h e r B i t a g e n e e d n o t b e d i s c a r d e d i n C h i n a ’ s s e a r c h f o r a “ m o d e r n ” l e g a l s y s t e m . W r i t i n g f r o m C h i n a i n 1 9 4 8 , P o u n d u r g e d t h a t m o d e r n i z i n g n a t i o n s g e n e r a l y m u s t s t r i k e a b a l B a n c e b e t w e e n a d o p t i n g w h o l e s a l e n e w l a w s t o s u i t n e w s i t u B a t i o n s a n d m a i n t a i n i n g o u t m o d e d l e g a l t r a d i - t i o n s . T h i s c o u l d b e d o n e i f t h e e t h i c a l s y s t e m s o f e a c h c o u n t r y w h i c h h a v e b e e n t e s t e d b y h i s t o r y w e r e p r e s e r v e d a s t h e b a c k b o n e f o r n e w l e g i s l a t i o n . O f C h i n a h e s t a t e d : “ I t m a y w e l p r o v e t o b e a n a d v a n t a g e t h a t C h i n a h a s h a d a t r a d i t i o n a l m o r a l p h i l o s o p h i c a l b o d y o f r e c e i v e d e t h i c a l c u s t o m w h i c h m a y b e B c o m e a b o d y o f r e c e i v e d i d e - a l s t o w h i c h t h e a d j u s t m e n t o f r e l a t i o n s a n d o r d e r i n g o f c o n d u c t m a y b e s h a p e d . ” L i k e J e r o m e F r a n k , R o s c o e P o u n d f o u n d a t t r a c t i v e C h i n a ’ s f l e x i B b l e b u t m o r a l a p p r o a c h t o l e g a l d e c i s i o n s . H o w c a n w e e x p l a i n t h e s e v e r y d i f f e r e n t a s s e s s m e n t s a b o u t C h i n e s e l a w t h a t e m e r g e d i n t h e p o s t - W a r e r a i n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ? I n m y o p i n i o n , a d e e p a m b i v a l e n c e a b o u t l a w 2 4 I n t r o d u c t i o n 〔 1 〕 R o s c o e P o u n d , “ C o m p a r a t i v e L a w a n d H i s t o r y a s E a s e s f o r C h i - n e s e L a w , ” H a r v a r d L a w R e v i e w ( 1 9 4 8 ) : 7 4 9 - 6 2 .
Introduction in our own culture has colored our views of Chinese law. It is welh- known, but worth re- peating, that in the west, we can trace divergent views about law' s nature and function to our classical heritage. a ristotle is still consid- ered the ear- liest spokesman for the Rule of law, for he contended that laws based on precedent must guide rulers all too prone to hu man failings. Plato celebrated the sage king, who could base his judgments on univ ersal ideals rather than formal laws. This con flict between the rule of law and rule of M an ideal is so deeply imbed ded in W estern tradition that debates about the value and ideal sources of formal law con- tinue to this day. In the early twentieth century, for exam- ple, the legal positi vists contended that law s le gitimacy rested on its link with the command of so vereign power Their opponents, the natural law thinkers, were on- cerned w ith the nature of the citizen s obligation to obey the state s law and with the values and ethics that render law worthy of obedience These contradictory attitudes about law were exacer- bated in the 1950s, as the w estern world began to compre- hend the depth of the horrors committed in the name of law in N azi germany. Most troubling w as the undeniable fact that the g erman debacle could not be blamed on alien on alien ideas -but on a perv ersion of w estern traditions and forms of the rule of the rule of law. In this env iron-
i n o u r o w n c u l t u r e h a s c o l o r e d o u r v i e w s o f C h i n e s e l a w . I t i s w e l - k n o w n , b u t w o r t h r e - p e a t i n g , t h a t i n t h e W e s t , w e c a n t r a c e d i v e r g e n t v i e w s a b o u t l a w ’ s n a t u r e a n d f u n c t i o n t o o u r c l a s s i c a l h e r i t a g e . A r i s t o t l e i s s t i l c o n s i d - e r e d t h e e a r B l i e s t s p o k e s m a n f o r t h e R u l e o f L a w , f o r h e c o n t e n d e d t h a t l a w s b a s e d o n p r e c e d e n t m u s t g u i d e r u l e r s a l t o o p r o n e t o h u - m a n f a i l i n g s . P l a t o c e l e b r a t e d t h e s a g e k i n g , w h o c o u l d b a s e h i s j u d g m e n t s o n u n i v e r s a l i d e a l s r a t h e r t h a n f o r m a l l a w s . T h i s c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n t h e R u l e o f L a w a n d R u l e o f M a n i d e a l i s s o d e e p l y i m b e d - d e d i n W e s t e r n t r a d i t i o n t h a t d e b a t e s a b o u t t h e v a l u e a n d i d e a l s o u r c e s o f f o r m a l l a w c o n B t i n u e t o t h i s d a y . I n t h e e a r l y t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y , f o r e x a m B p l e , t h e l e g a l p o s i t i v i s t s c o n t e n d e d t h a t l a w ’ s l e - g i t i m a c y r e s t e d o n i t s l i n k w i t h t h e c o m m a n d o f s o v e r e i g n p o w e r . T h e i r o p p o n e n t s , t h e n a t u r a l l a w t h i n k e r s , w e r e m o r e c o n B c e r n e d W i t h t h e n a t u r e o f t h e c i t i z e n ’ s o b l i g a t i o n t o o b e y t h e s t a t e ’ s l a w a n d w i t h t h e v a l u e s a n d e t h i c s t h a t r e n d e r l a w w o r t h y o f o b e d i e n c e . T h e s e c o n t r a d i c t o r y a t t i t u d e s a b o u t l a w w e r e e x a c e r B b a t e d i n t h e 1 9 5 0 s , a s t h e W e s t e r n w o r l d b e g a n t o c o m p r e B h e n d t h e d e p t h o f t h e h o r r o r s c o m m i t t e d i n t h e n a m e o f “ l a w ” i n N a z i G e r m a n y . M o s t t r o u b l i n g W a s t h e u n d e n i a b l e f a c t t h a t t h e G e r m a n d e b a c l e c o u l d n o t b e b l a m e d o n a l i e n o n a l i e n i d e a s — b u t o n a p e r v e r s i o n o f W e s t e r n t r a d i t i o n s a n d f o r m s o f t h e R u l e o f t h e R u l e o f L a w . I n t h i s e n v i r o n B I n t r o d u c t i o n 2 5