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3 - Ming law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Denis C. Twitchett  and
Frederick W. Mote
By
John D. Langlois, Jr.
Denis C. Twitchett
Affiliation:
Princeton University, New Jersey
John D. Langlois, Jr.
Affiliation:
J. P. Morgan and Co., Incorporated
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Summary

Law in traditional China derived from the emperor's commands, and codes of law were instructions to the emperor's magistrates instructing them how to impose punishments for behavior that ran counter to the emperor's interests. Ming law came into existence with the first commands issued by the founder of the dynasty when he ascended the throne in 1368. Written law took the form of rules and collections of descriptions of specific punishments for specific crimes. These were promulgated by order of the emperor. Early in his reign, the first Ming emperor was careful to insure that his dynasty would enjoy the benefits of a body of written law known as a lü or code. His close attention to the compilation of a code was a product of his perception that the preceding Yüan dynasty, during which the Mongols ruled China, had been defective in its lack of a formal legal code. The founder of the Ming felt that a code was valuable to a ruler because it assisted him in maintaining bureaucratic discipline, public order, and permanent institutions that centered around his line of descent. A code was, furthermore, a symbol of the legitimacy of his rule.

Because the founder of the Ming devoted a fair amount of attention to compiling formal codes, a number of versions appeared during his reign. The Ming dynasty's first codified laws were promulgated in 1368 under the rubric lü-ling, or code and commands. Although an integrated version of the text has not been found, we do have the 1368 version of the ling or “commands,” sometimes translated “ordinances,” consisting of 145 separate articles. The no longer extant 1368 version of the lü or “statutory code” had 285 articles.

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The Cambridge History of China , pp. 172 - 220
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1998

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